presented  to  the 

UNIVERSITY  OF  JAU 


.  SAN  DIFGO 

FRIENDS  OF  THE  LIBRARY 


donor 


PRIMEVAL  FOREST  IN  THE  CORDILLERAS  MOUNTAINS,  SALTA, 
ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC 

Frontispiect — Spanish  America. 


SPANISH  AMERICA 

FROM  THE  EARLIEST  PERIOD  TO 
THE  PRESENT  TIME 


BY 

JULIAN    HAWTHORNE 


ILL USTRA  TED 


COPYRIGHT,  1899, 

BV 
PETER  FENELON  COLLIER. 


CONTENTS 


PART    I. 

PAVE 

PREFACE 1 

I.     ONCE    UPON    A    TIME 5 

II.    THE    UNSUSPECTING    EAST 38 

in.    THE    CABOTS,   VESPUCIUS    AND    MAGELLAN..  .  70 


PART    II. 

I.  THE  AGE  OF  CORTES 

II.  PASSING  UNDER  THE  YOKE 

III.  PIZARRO 

IV.  CHILI 

V.  MORE    SPANISH    CIVILIZATION 268 

VI.  THE    SEQUEL    OF    CORTES 305 

VII.  THE    WEST    INDIES..  ,.  336 


PART    III. 

I.    THE    REVOLT    AGAINST   SPAIN 875 

II.     THE    FINAL    STRUGGLE. 412 

III.    PAST,    PRESENT    AND    FUTURE 450 

(iii) 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


SPANISH  AMERICA 

Frontispiece—  Primeval  Forest  in  the  Cordilleras  Mountains,  Salta,  Ar- 

gentine  Republic       .         .         ..: 

Bakairi  Youths    .  

South  American  Indians • 

Bogota,  Colombia  (From  a  photograph) 

The  Pampas  in  the  Argentine  Republic 

Guayaquil  Harbor,   Ecuador       .  

Valparaiso 


PREFACE 


THE  close  of  this  century  witnesses  a  remarkable 
dramatic  episode  in  the  war  between  the  United  States 
and  Spain,  which  has  just  been  brought  to  an  end. 
One  of  the  oldest  and  once  most  powerful  States  of 
Europe,  now  worn  out,  and  bowed  with  feebleness,  re- 
linquishes the  empire  in  the  west  and  in  the  east  which 
it  has  held  during  four  centuries,  and  retires  within  its 
original  boundaries.  And  into  its  place,  the  inheritor  of 
its  burdens  and  responsibilities,  steps,  the  newest  and 
strongest  nation  of  the  modern  world,  erect  and  confi- 
dent, with  the  boundless  future  lying  fair  before  it.  It 
is  a  vivid  illustration  of  Tennyson's  profound  apothegm — 

"The  old  Order  changeth,  giving  place  to  new, 
And  God  fulfils  Himself  in  many  ways.'' 

It  is  an  opportune  moment  in  which  to  pass  in  re- 
view the  history  of  Spain's  acquisition  of  her  colonial 
empire,  of  the  manner  of  her  administration  of  it,  and  of 
the  way  she  lost  it.  In  the  following  pages  an  attempt 
has  been  made  to  throw  upon  the  screen  the  series  of 
pictures  which  tell  the  tale.  It  is  not  "a  tale  full  of 
sound  and  fury,  signifying  nothing."  Sound  and  fury 
indeed  it  contains  in  abundance;  but  its  significance  is 
deep  and  tragic,  and  its  moral  weighty.  It  is  well  that 

(1) 


2  PREFACE 

we  should  ponder  it,  standing  as  we  do  on  the  threshold 
of  our  own  career.  Spain's  political  deeds  have  been 
for  the  most  part  evil.  Evil  deeds,  in  men  and  in  na- 
tions, are  the  result  of  predisposing  conditions  and  qual- 
ities. All  men  inherit  the  same  nature,  and  are  prone 
to  commit,  under  temptation,  the  same  sins.  The  United 
States  prides  itself  on  its  enlightenment,  its  civilization, 
its  humanity  and  its  democracy.  It  has  the  virtues  of 
its  era.  But  when  Spain  arose  in  her  northern  moun- 
tains and  drove  the  Moor  step  by  step  from  her  pen- 
insula, she  too  was  enlightened  and  civilized;  and 
whatever  Christian  virtues  characterized  the  eleventh 
century,  Spain  possessed.  She  was  religious,  learned, 
artistic,  and  brave.  From  the  eleventh  to  the  sixteenth 
century  she  increased  in  power  and  wealth,  but  in 
character  she  became  debased  and  corrupt.  Her  religion 
became  bigotry,  her  strength  tyranny,  her  pride  nour- 
ished itself  on  greed  for  wealth  and  for  territory  which 
breeds  wealth.  She  perpetrated  hideous  cruelties  in  the 
name  of  God  and  of  civilization.  She  became  the  dead- 
liest foe  of  that  human  liberty  which  she  had  cham- 
pioned so  valiantly  in  her  Moorish  wars.  Every  nation 
of  Europe  owed  her  a  grudge;  she  obstructed  commerce 
and  industry,  and  lay  sullen  and  inert  before  the  path 
of  progress.  The  world,  and  the  spirit  of  the  new  ages 
was  against  her,  and  inevitably  she  fell,  contesting 
every  inch  with  her  old  stubbornness,  but  without  her 
old  strength.  She  did  not  repent;  she  admitted  the 
commission  of  no  wrong.  To-day,  crushed  without  an 
effort  by  the  Western  Republic,  she  stands  bleeding 
and  beggared,  and  none  is  so  poor  to  do  her  rever- 
ence. But  her  tragic  fate  may  well  teach  a  lesson  to 


PKEFACE  3 

her  conqueror.  Great  opportunities,  and  with  them 
great  temptations,  are  before  us.  Spain  started  with 
hopes  as  fair  as  ours.  Let  us  so  act  before  God  and 
man  that  we  may  not  end  in  despair  as  dark  as  hers! 
Already  tendencies  are  visible  in  our  social  and  indus- 
trial life  which,  if  indulged,  might  easily  bring  us,  too, 
to  shame.  Of  the  talents  which  God  has  intrusted  to 
us,  He  will  require  a  strict  account. 

The  history  of  Spanish  America  could  not  be  other 
than  a  record  of  bloodshed  and  oppression,  which  at 
last  becomes  monotonous  to  wearisomeness ;  but  it  is 
not  the  less  full  of  romance  and  interest.  There  is  a 
rich  picturesqueness  about  it  which  compels  the  atten- 
tion; and  striking  figures  throng  its  scenes  and  pro- 
voke our  wonder  and  occasionally  our  admiration.  It 
involves  the  story  of  the  mightiest  discovery  of  medi- 
eval times — the  revelation  of  a  new  and  unsuspected 
world.  It  illustrates  the  marvellous  manner  in  which 
Providence  compels  the  very  selfishness  of  men  to  labor 
and  build  for  others  than  themselves.  "Our  foes  inherit 
us."  It  shows  how  impotent  evil  is  to  turn  aside  the 
stream  of  tendency,  not  ourselves,  which  makes  for 
righteousness. 

In  preparing  the  present  volume,  no  attempt  has 
been  made  to  embody  new  material.  The  work  is  de- 
signed for  the  general  reader,  not  for  the  curious 
scholar.  To  Prescott,  Fiske,  Bandelier,  Hancock,  Susan 
Hale,  'Theodore  Child,  W.  H.  Bishop,  and  many  more, 
the  author  is  indebted;  and  he  has  found  much  of 
value  in  current  magazines  and  journals.  The  "Century 
Dictionary  of  Names"  has  proved  itself  of  great  use  as 
an  accurate  and  fertile  book  of  reference  His  own 


4  PREFACE 

part  in  his  volume  has  been  that  of  an  arranger  and 
occasional  commentator.  Often,  too,  it  has  been  that 
of  an  omitter;  for  the  space  at  his  disposal  made  a 
careful  selection  indispensable;  and  in  Spanish  Ameri- 
can history  more  than  in  many  histories,  events  occur 
which  are  practically  repetitions  of  one  another. 

The  chapter  of  our  administrative  experiences  with 
our  new  "West  Indian  possessions  remains  to  be  written, 
because  the  experiences  themselves  are  still  to  come.  One 
can  only  wish  that,  should  the  chapter  in  question  ever 
appear,  its  contents  may  be  such  as  to  make  it  the 
brightest  and  most  agreeable  of  the  book. 

JULIAN    HAWTHORNE. 


HAWTHORNE'S 
HISTORY   OF   SPANISH   AMERICA 


PART    I 


ONCE  UPON  A   TIME 

TELLERS  of  mediaeval  fairy-tales  were  wont  to  be 
chary  of  fixing  their  dates,  probably  from  a  feeling 
that  dates  were  incompatible  with  the  free  conditions 
of  fairyland.  Therefore  they  devised  that  phrase,  "Once 
upon  a  time,"  with  which  all  the  legitimate  stories  which 
enchanted  our  nursery  days  begin,  and  which  may  mean 
either  any  period  of  the  unmeasured  past,  or  else  some  in- 
stant of  the  eternal  Now  upon  which  the  mysterious  ship 
of  Humanity  is  launched.  Traditional  usage  has  conferred 
upon  the  quaint  form  of  words  a  charm  of  satisfaction  which 
no  more  definite  formula  could  convey ;  we  love  it  because 
it  gives  the  imagination  scope,  and  takes  us  out  of  the  iron 
routine  of  the  material  world,  where  all  things  must  occur 
in  right  order  and  sequence,  and  one  day  omitted  or  out  of 
place  upsets  the  balance  of  an  entire  chronology.  Anything 
may  have  happened  "once  upon  a  time";  but  at  any  speci- 
fied time,  only  one  thing  could  have  happened  in  any  given 
place ;  and  the  impalpable  horizons  of  fancy  become  an  ada- 
mantine dome,  which  fifcs  accurately  over  the  landscape,  and 
will  not  budge  a  hair-breadth  upon  any  consideration.  Man 
is  justified  in  feeling  restive  under  the  tyranny  of  time;  for 
the  soul  is  immortal,  and  has  no  concern  with  arbitrary  meas- 
urements. And  the  soul  looks  forward  to  a  state  of  freedom 

(5) 


6  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

from  material  limitations,  when  past  and  future  shall  be  fused 
in  an  ever  abiding  present,  and  the  life  of  the  passing  instant 
shall  fill  t'itt  confines  of  the  universe. 

Upon  the  relatively  vast  extent  of  this  planet's  duration, 
the  recorded  history  of  mankind  makes  but  a  little  mark.     A 
few  thousand  years  are  set  off  upon  a  line  of  many  millions. 
The  times  before  man  are  so  immeasurable  when  compared 
with  the  time  of  his  existence,  that  we  might  regard  him, 
from  the  chronological  standpoint,  as  the  creature  of  but  a 
moment.     It  is  not  until  we  think  of  him  as  a  spirit  embodied 
that  he  assumes  his  proper  stature.     All  that  preceded  him 
was  as  nothing;  "Darkness  was  upon  the  face  of  the  Deep." 
Those  semi-infinite  geologic  epochs  lapsed  and  succeeded  one 
another  for  his  sake ;  the  blind  cells  that  drifted  in  the  wash 
of  prehistoric  oceans;  the  strange  serpent-forms  that  fought 
one  another  in  the  slime ;  the  amorphous  beasts  that  roamed 
the  unimagined  forests  of  the  Prime,  and  dragged  their  pon- 
derous length  along  the  ghastly  coasts,  breathing  a  turgid, 
torrid  atmosphere,  through  which  the  images  of  sun  and 
moon  showed  dim-red  and  ominous: — all  these  were  but 
prophetic  of  the  human   being  to  come,  and  owe  to  him 
alone  their  excuse   for   being.     Vainly  do  we  attempt  to 
conceive  of   a  period  when  man  was  not;    nor,  in  truth, 
has  such  a  period  ever  existed,  for  man  was  ever  implied, 
though  not  yet  actually  present.     In  the  incandescent  gases 
revolving  in  the  vast  of  space  were  contained  the  elements 
destined  at  last  to  be  fashioned  into  his  body  and  limbs;  and 
the  uncouth  and  imperfect  shapes  of  geologic  animals  were 
the  obscure  forecast  of  what  he  was  to  be.     Mineral,  vege- 
table and  animal  slowly  and  unconsciously  perfected  them- 
selves while  far  off  his  coming  shone.     When  the  hour  was 
ripe,  and  his  kingdom  ready,  the  monarch  of  all  appeared, 
and  rose  erect  upon  his  feet,  with  his  brow  toward  heaven, 
and  looked  abroad,  and  gave  to  each  living  thing  its  name. 
The  world — the  universe,   which  spread  around  him,  was 
his,  for  it  was  he;   he  was  its  epitome,  its  cause,  its  end. 
Nothing  in  it  was  alien  from  him ;   no  remotest  star  in  the 


ONCE    UPON    A    TIME  7 

firmament  but  was  made  of  the  identical  stuff  which  consti- 
tuted his  body  and  bones.  Time  and  space,  those  master 
twin-illusions  of  the  mortal  senses,  began  with"  Mm — with 
the  workings  of  that  brain  which  first  perceived  the  rela- 
tions of  phenomena,  and  translated  the  conditions  of  the 
immortal  spirit  into  the  language  of  transient  matter.  All 
that  heretofore  had  been  dead  and  purportless  sprang,  be- 
neath his  comprehending  glance,  into  life  and  meaning. 
When  did  man  begin?  Not  when  the  clay  of  the  earth 
first  assumed  the  image  of  the  Creator  and  received  into 
its  nostrils  the  breath  of  life ;  but  when  the  pregnant  thought 
of  the  human  race  was  launched  from  the  mind  of  Deity  and, 
guided  by  eternal  law,  set  forth  on  its  stupendous  journey 
from  the  whirl  of  fiery  vapors  to  the  shapes  of  the  men  and 
women  of  to-day.  Was  it  a  thousand  million  years  ago,  or 
was  it  yesterday?  It  is  all  one ;  since  the  real  man  is  a  spirit, 
which  has  no  concern  with  time ;  and  his  experience  of  mat- 
ter is  but  a  passing  incident  of  his  everlasting  development 
and  progress.  Let  us  use  again  the  ancient,  homely  phrase, 
and  say  that  it  all  happened  Once  upon  a  time! 

It  seems  singular  that  in  accounting  for  the  Western  Con- 
tinent, which  we  call  the  New  World,  we  should  find  our- 
selves forced  back  not  only  into  the  half -legendary  epochs  of 
early  Asiatic  and  European  history,  but  further  still  toward 
that  dark  backward  and  abysm  of  time  which  far  antedates 
all  records.  Taking  the  point  of  view  that  America  was  to 
be  discovered,  we  find  the  movement  toward  it  beginning  at 
almost  any  point  we  please.  But  by  a  common  agreement 
we  have  assumed  that  the  race  of  man  commenced  a  migra- 
tion, in  a  westerly  direction,  from  somewhere  in  the  heart  of 
Asia.  A  very  leisurely  migration  it  was,  the  stages  of  which 
were  measured  by  hundreds  or  even  by  thousands  of  years. 
It  had  no  defined  object,  beyond  the  desire,  or  the  necessity, 
to  escape  from  a  present  environment.  Of  its  first  movements 
we  know  nothing  save  by  inference ;  nor  can  we  tell  why  the 
movement  was  westward  instead  of  eastward.  Possibly  there 


8  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

was  a  vague  curiosity  in  the  human  mind  to  find  out  where 
the  sun  went  to  on  his  daily  journey;  his  setting  was  in 
splendor,  and  perhaps  those  who  should  discover  the  land 
of  the  golden  west  would  meet  with  glorious  experiences. 
But  the  rising  of  the  sun  is  also  glorious ;  and  why  should 
not  primitive  man  have  sought  fortune  in  that  direction? 
Perhaps,  indeed,  he  did ;  but  so  long  ago  that  no  memory 
of  it  remains.  For  aught  we  can  say,  the  pressure  of  popu- 
lation in  the  Asiatic  valleys  may  first  have  sought  relief  by 
sending  out  pioneers  toward  the  rising  sun ;  and  it  may  be 
these  people  who  occupied  the  American  continent.  At  that 
time  it  is  probable  that  a  man  might  walk  dry-shod  from  Asia 
to  America,  by  the  northerly  route ;  there  were  no  straits  of 
Bering  in  those  days.  In  fact,  the  geography  of  the  world 
was  doubtless  very  different  then  from  what  it  is  now.  Con- 
tinents were  broader,  and  islands  fewer.  Europe  extended 
far  into  the  Atlantic ;  and  the  legend  of  Atlantis  may  have 
better  warrant  than  modern  historians  and  geographers  are 
willing  to  admit.  It  was  rumored  to  extend  from  near  the 
west  coast  of  Africa  to  the  neighborhood  of  Central  America, 
and  to  have  been  inhabited  by  a  powerful  and  civilized  race. 
But  in  some  mighty  convulsion  of  nature  the  great  island 
sank  beneath  the  sea,  with  most  of  its  inhabitants.  We  might 
surmise,  however,  that  some  of  them,  forewarned  of  the  de- 
struction to  come,  may  have  succeeded  in  escaping  to  the 
African  and  American  shores,  or  to  one  of  them.  And  since 
imagination  is  free,  we  may  suppose  that  the  more  civilized 
races  of  America,  of  whom  at  present  only  a  vague  tradition 
remains,  such  as  the  Toltecs,  and  Piruas,  may  have  been  the 
survivors  of  that  appalling  catastrophe.  There  is,  to  be  sure, 
no  foundation  for  such  a  hypothesis ;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  chief  reason  adduced  for  disbelieving  in  Atlantis  is  the 
ascertained  fact  that  the  Atlantic  is  two  miles  deep  over  the 
area  which  the  island  is  said  to  have  occupied.  The  argu- 
ment can  hardly  be  considered  conclusive;  a  subsidence  of 
two  miles  is  little  more  remarkable  than  one  of  half  a  mile. 
Nevertheless,  the  existence  of  Atlantis  must  be  conceded  to 


ONCE    UPON    A    TIME  9 

i 

be  very  doubtful,  to  say  the  most  of  it;  and  as  for  the  Tol- 
tecs  and  Piruas,  there  is  in  their  traditions  nothing  sugges- 
tive of  their  having  come  ashore  from  a  submerged  island. 
When  asked  their  origin,  they  commonly  pointed  toward  the 
North ; — or  to  be  more  precise,  those  who  purported  to  be  their 
descendants  did  so. 

For  a  time,  theories  founded  upon  this  hint  obtained  gen- 
eral credence  with  historians.  Books  have  been  written  to 
prove  that  America  was  settled  by  the  lost  tribes  of  Israel. 
The  lost  tribes  must  have  gone  somewhere:  why  not  east- 
ward by  way  of  Siberia?  But  the  enlarged  views  of  later 
days  make  it  seem  probable  that  the  Israelites  were  still  in 
the  womb  of  time  long  after  America  had  been  settled  by 
the  Red  Men.  It  would  seem  more  hopeful  to  identify  our 
Indians  with  the  Biblical  Adam,  whose  name  means  red  men; 
and  accordingly  a  recent  enthusiast  has  discovered  the  site  of 
the  Garden  of  Eden  in  Central  America,  and  even  declares 
he  has  found  the  self -same  club  with  which  Cain  wreaked 
his  vengeance  upon  Abel  for  being  more  favored  by  the 
Almighty  than  himself.  This  prompts  the  reflection  that 
there  may  be  such  a  thing  as  discovering  too  much.  Such 
speculations  incline  to  fade  in  the  light  of  late  geological 
revelations.  These  inform  us  that  during  the  Pleistocene 
period  a  large  portion  of  the  northern  hemisphere  of  the 
earth  was  covered  with  a  thick  coat  of  snow  and  ice.  In 
America,  the  limit  of  the  glaciers  was  as  far  south  as  North 
Carolina.  How  long  ago  was  this?  Obviously  there  must 
be  a  limit,  since  we  know  that  there  was  an  epoch  when  the 
earth  was  still  so  hot  that  such  a  phenomenon  as  the  freez- 
ing of  water  was  inconceivable.  Experts  seem  inclined  to 
the  opinion  that  the  Glacial  epoch  was  coincident  with  the 
last  period  of  high  eccentricity  of  the  earth's  orbit,  which 
began  some  two  hundred  and  forty  thousand  years  ago. 
Our  globe  swung  so  far  away  from  the  neighborhood  of 
the  sun  that  the  climate  was  profoundly  affected ;  and  vari- 
ations occurred  which  it  is  anything  but  comfortable  even  to 
imagine.  Anything  beyond  imagination  will  not  be  required 


10  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

of  us;  since  the  ice  age  is  well  past,  and  is  not  scheduled  to 
return  until  after  some  eight  hundred  thousand  years  hence, 
more  or  less.  But  during  its  presence,  it  made  its  mark, 
which  is  still  legible. 

But  what  relation  does  the  ice  age  bear  to  human  history? 
Simply  this — that  many  traces  of  the  existence  of  man  on 
this  continent  during  the  last  ice  age  have  been  discovered. 
Stone  weapons  and  tools,  made  by  human  hands,  have  been 
found  in  the  Glacial  drift ;  stray  fragments  of  the  bones  of 
the  makers  themselves  are  not  unknown;  and  some  five  and 
twenty  years  ago  there  was  found  by  Dr.  Abbott  a  number 
of  paleolithic  objects  in  Glacial  drift  along  the  banks  of  the 
Delaware  River.  These  tools  and  utensils  were  last  in  use 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  years  ago.  As  for 
the  famous  Calaveras  skull,  found  in  the  county  of  that 
name  in  1866,  it  has  been  assigned  a  date  twice  as  remote 
as  the  above ;  and  there  are  not  wanting  persons  who  affirm 
that  the  man  who  wore  it  may  have  lived  not  less  than  a 
million  years  before  this  age.  Plainly,  Science,  in  this  mat- 
ter, is  open  to  the  charge  of  indulging  in  a  little  guess-work. 
Practically,  however,  in  the  present  infantine  condition  of 
historical  knowledge,  it  can  make  no  difference  whether  we 
say  that  the  Calaveras  man  is  one  hundred  and  fifty,  or  three 
hundred  thousand  years  old ;  or  whether  we  go  the  full  limit 
of  a  million.  In  any  case,  the  gap  between  him  and  any- 
thing relating  to  mankind  that  is  matter  of  historic  certainty, 
is  so  prodigious  as  to  make  the  hope  of  ever  spanning  it  seem 
fantastic.  The  only  assurance  to  be  derived  from  these  dis- 
coveries is,  that  man  lived  here  in  the  west  indefinite  ages 
before  the  earliest  traces  of  him  in  the  written  records  of 
Asia  and  Europe.  This,  of  course,  is  not  to  say  that  pre- 
historic man  in  America  antedates  prehistoric  man  on  the 
eastern  hemisphere.  No  doubt  they  were  contemporaneous 
— six  of  one  and  half  a  dozen  of  the  other.  The  real  ques- 
tion of  interest  is,  what  was  man  doing  between  the  time 
that  we  find  him  in  geology,  and  the  time  that  we  find  him 
in  written  records?  And  the  problem  is  even  more  puzzling 


ONCE    UPON   A   TIME  11 

in  this  continent  than  in  the  eastern  one,  for  the  reason  that 
our  red  Indians  are  so  nearly  primitive  a  race  even  yet  as 
scarcely  to  have  emerged  above  savagery,  and  still  to  be  in 
the  midst  of  barbarism.  They  are  to-day  in  the  condition  of 
some  of  the  elder  Asiatic  peoples  before  the  Egyptian  pyra- 
mids were  built.  "What  is  the  cause  which  rendered  them  so 
much  more  backward  than  their  Asiatic  contemporaries? 

To  this,  as  to  many  a  similar  query,  the  Evolutionists  are 
ready  with  an  answer,  and  a  plausible  one.  These  disciples 
of  Darwin  have  made  their  views  conspicuous  of  late,  and 
they  will  by  no  means  be  ignored  here;  though  it  may  as 
well  be  stated  at  the  outset  that  we  shall  not  always  accept 
their  conclusions  implicitly.  The  philosophy  which  they  ex- 
ploit is  a  new  one,  and  to  many  minds  has  the  charm  of 
novelty ;  it  seems  to  explain  so  much  that  they  are  fain  to 
believe  it  capable  of  explaining  everything.  Their  cardinal 
principle  is,  that  the  future  is  involved  in  the  past.  And 
it  is  then:  leading  contention  that  man  was  immediately 
derived  from  the  ape.  So  positive  are  their  affirmations, 
and  so  beguiling  their  arguments,  that  persons  of  culture 
and  prudence  are  very  shy  of  opposing  them.  If,  for  exam- 
ple, man  is  not  the  offspring  of  the  ape,  of  what  is  he  the 
offspring?  That  the  connecting  link  still  delays  to  be  dis- 
covered (in  spite  of  many  false  alarms)  is  nothing;  he  will 
be  discovered  some  day.  That  the  attempt  to  generate  life 
from  inanimate  matter  has  hitherto  failed  is  nothing ;  some- 
body may  so  generate  it  at  any  moment.  Or  if  you  profess  a 
difficulty  in  comprehending  how  more  can  be  taken  out  of 
the  bag  than  has  been  put  into  it  in  the  first  place — how 
man  can  be  derived  from  monkey  unless  he  was  previously 
contained  in  him — how  there  can  be  evolution  without  an- 
terior involution,  in  short — you  get  answers  which,  if  not 
perfectly  clear,  are  at  least  sufficiently  voluble.  Meanwhile 
it  is  abundantly  plain  that,  even  as  nature  is  said  to  abhor 
a  vacuum,  so  does  the  evolutionist  abhor  the  alternative  of 
conceding  what  he  is  pleased  to  term  a  miraculous  creation. 
If  one  order  of  animals  does  not  spontaneously  grow  out  of 


12  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

another,  in  consequence  of  the  law  of  the  survival  of  the 
fittest,  and  of  the  influence  of  environment,  then,  mani- 
festly, we  are  driven  to  assume  that  God  must  have  cre- 
ated all  creatures  in  a  series,  one  above  another,  and  yet 
distinct  and  independent.  Instead  of  having  set  Creation 
going  with  one  initial  bang,  and  ever  after  taking  His  ease, 
He  must  be  supposed  to  be  constantly  at  work,  and  to  be,  if 
anything,  busier  now  than  during  the  Biblical  Seven  Days. 
Instead  of  deftly  sliding  the  instinct  of  the  last  ape  into  the 
reason  of  the  first  man,  He  must  have  endowed  the  latter 
with  a  distinct  and  unprecedented  gift,  bearing  just  enough 
resemblance  to  instinct  to  mislead  the  impulsive  evolutionist. 
And  to  revert  to  the  point  whence  this  digression  began, 
He  must  have  delayed  the  development  of  the  American  red 
men  for  other  reasons,  and  in  other  ways,  than  the  ingenious 
evolutionists  imagine.  They  say  that  it  was  simply  a  matter 
of  the  lack  of  cattle. 

It  is  a  very  shrewd  suggestion.  But  there  was  once  an 
evolutionist  who  observed  that  a  dog,  before  sitting  down 
on  the  rug  before  the  fire,  turned  round  upon  himself  twice 
or  thrice  as  if  undetermined  which  side  of  his  circle  should 
ie  fire  ward,  and  which  away  from  it :  or  perhaps  with  the 
hope  of  getting  all  sides  toward  the  fire  at  once.  Now  why 
(said  the  evolutionist  to  himself)  does  the  dog  do  this?  It 
must  be  the  survival  in  him  of  some  ancient  habit,  when 
things  were  different  from  what  they  are  now.  And  forth- 
with he  sent  his  educated  intelligence  back  along  the  stream 
of  time,  until  he  reached  the  primal  dog,  in  his  primal  envi- 
ronment. That  environment,  the  evolutionist  felt  safe  in 
assuming,  had  been  partly  grass;  and,  indeed,  grass  of  an 
unusually  tall  and  stubborn  sort.  When  the  primal  dog, 
inexperienced  as  yet  in  the  luxuries  of  downy  hearthrugs, 
wished  to  lie  down,  he  was  inconvenienced  by  this  tall  grass 
sticking  up  all  round  him,  antagonizing  his  comfort  and 
obstructing  his  view.  But  he  was  equal  to  the  occasion ;  he 
turned  himself  round  and  round  until  the  tiresome  grass  was 
flattened  down  into  a  sort  of  nest,  devoid  of  sharp  upstarting 


ONCE    UPON   A   TIME  13 

points,  upon  which  he  could  repose  in  peace  and  security. 
How  long  it  took  the  primal  dog  to  hit  upon  this  clever 
device  we  are  not  informed;  but  having  once  hit  upon  it, 
he  repeated  it  so  often,  that  even  till  this  day,  several  hun- 
dred thousand  years  later,  and  upon  rugs  which  are  innocent 
of  the  discomforts  which  appertained  to  the  primal  grass 
beds,  the  habit  sticks  to  him,  and  round  and  round  needs 
must  he  revolve,  in  unconscious  subservience  to  his  own  pre- 
historic ingenuity.  Thus,  at  least,  reasoned  the  evolutionist 
— or  so  it  was  pretended  by  the  practical  joker  who,  with 
satirical  intent,  invented  the  illustration. 

Now,  the  strange — the  wellnigh  inconceivable  feature  of 
this  story  is,  that  it  was  accepted  ever  since  in  sad  earnest 
by  too  credulous  evolutionists,  who  have  quoted  it  with 
eagerness  and  applause,  and  instanced  it  in  their  books. 
The  patent  and  preposterous  absurdity  of  the  notion  has 
never  once  come  in  contact  with  their  sense  of  humor ;  and 
it  is  to  be  feared  that  this  imbecility  on  their  part  has  caused 
widespread  distrust  in  the  lay  mind  as  to  the  soundness  of 
their  conclusions  in  general.  For  if  men  could  be  found  who 
would  swallow  such  a  camel  as  that,  how  many  a  gnat  might 
they  not  have  inadvertently  assimilated? — Of  course  no  dog 
ever  does  or  ever  did  turn  round  in  grass  in  order  to  make  a 
better  lair  for  himself ;  and  consequently,  no  dog  turns  round 
on  the  hearthrug  to-day  because  of  the  survival  in  his  brain 
of  the  habit  then  acquired.  Nor,  for  that  matter,  would  he  do 
so  in  any  case ;  the  habits  due  to  environment  wear  off,  when 
the  environment  changes,  as  quickly  as  they  were  adopted. 

Now,  as  to  the  assertion  that  cattle  are  the  first  cause  of 
civilization,  it  is,  as  has  been  admitted,  a  shrewd  one;  but 
it  is  pure  assumption.  A  condition  and  a  relation  are  found, 
and  an  explanation  of  them  is  invented.  But  it  is  just  as 
reasonable  to  say  that  civilization  causes  cattle,  as  the  re- 
verse. It  is  true  that  the  domestication  of  animals  is  a  con- 
comitant of  civilized  life;  it  is  true  that  cows  and  horses 
existed  in  the  eastern  hemisphere  and  not  in  the  western; 
it  is  true  that  civilization  in  the  former  greatly  antedates  it 


14  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

in  the  latter  part  of  the  world.  But  it  by  no  means  follows 
that  civilization  in  America  might  not  have  been  accom- 
plished without  the  cows  and  horses  of  Europe  and  Cathay. 
There  was  an  epoch  when  there  were  no  domestic  cattle  in 
the  old  world;  but  in  the  course  of  thousands  of  years  cer- 
tain animals  were  caught  and  tamed,  and  by  and  by  they 
appeared  as  horses,  cows  and  sheep.  The  cattle  did  not 
come  ready-made  to  the  savage  man,  and  induce  him  to  be 
civilized ;  but  he,  feeling  within  himself  the  impulse  toward 
civilization,  transformed  wild  beasts  into  cattle.  In  other 
words,  civilization  began  in  man,  and  not  outside  of  him. 
In  America,  the  animals  which  we  now  know  as  cattle 
did  not  exist.  But  there  were  other  animals,  in  America, 
which  might  have  been  made-over  into  cattle,  if  our  red 
men  had  felt  the  disposition  to  do  so.  There  is  the  rein- 
deer, for  example,  the  buffalo,  and,  in  the  south,  the  llama. 
And,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  llama  was  domesticated,  after 
unnumbered  ages  of  training;  and  so  was  the  reindeer.  Did 
civilization  follow?  In  the  case  of  the  Piruas  and  Incas,  a 
partial  civilization  did  follow  (or  accompany)  the  achieve- 
ment ;  in  the  case  of  the  Esquimaux  it  did  not.  Meanwhile 
it  seems  evident  that  the  domestication  of  both  llamas  and 
reindeer  was  the  outcome  of  necessity ;  the  people  needed  the 
creatures  in  their  business ;  but  there  is  nothing  to  show  that 
the  llamas  civilized  the  Piruas,  while  on  the  other  hand  it  is 
manifest  that  the  reindeer  failed  to  soften  the  manners  of 
the  Esquimaux.  As  for  the  buffalo,  they  have  never  been 
tamed,  and  the  Indian  tribes  of  North  America  have  re- 
mained barbarians.  But  will  any  one  assert  that  it  was 
impossible  to  tame  buffalo?  In  the  course  of  two  hundred 
and  forty  thousand  years,  more  or  less,  might  not  this  feat 
have  been  accomplished?  Is  the  wild  buffalo  any  wilder 
than  the  primitive  llama  or  reindeer?  That  they  were  not 
domesticated,  then,  must  be  owing  to  the  fact  that  our  red 
men  did  not  care  to  domesticate  them.  With  the  alleged 
material  for  civilization  at  hand,  they  declined  to  avail 
themselves  of  it.  And  what  judgment  can  we  pronounce 


ONCE    UPON    A   TIME  15 

thereupon,  but  that  the  impulse  toward  civilization  did  not 
exist  in  the  Indian's  soul?  Nor  has  it  been  created  in  him 
since  the  advent  of  civilized  Europe  four  hundred  years  ago. 
He  is  either  as  wild  as  he  was  at  first,  or  he  is  moribund. 

Upon  the  whole,  therefore,  we  must  regard  the  theory 
that  cattle  make  civilization  as  not  proven,  to  say  the  best 
of  it;  and  consequently  we  are  still  in  the  dark  as  to  the 
causes  which  advanced  man  in  the  east  and  kept  him  in 
statu  quo  in  the  west.  But  as  to  the  fact  itself  there  is  no 
question.  The  northern  tribes  of  our  continent  are  wholly 
uncivilized ;  so  are  those  in  the  extreme  south ;  but  in  the 
semi-tropic  regions  we  find  a  sort  of  civilization,  conform- 
able to  the  leisure  which  a  warm  and  fertile  climate  makes 
possible,  and  to  the  sedentary  habits  which  a  relaxing  tem- 
perature fosters.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  too,  that  the 
population  in  the  southern  regions  was  denser  in  the  given 
area  than  it  was  further  north,  compelling  the  people  to  ad- 
just themselves  one  with  another,  and  thus  promoting  the 
development  of  stable  villages  or  cities.  Central  America 
is  narrow ;  and  Peru  and  Chili  are  so  hemmed  in  between 
the  Andes  and  the  Pacific  as  to  be  practically  scamped  for 
room.  And  it  is  in  the  crowded  valleys  of  Mexico  and  the 
Isthmus,  and  along  the  ocean  shores  further  south,  that  we 
find  the  greatest  development  in  the  arts  of  life  among  the 
original  denizens  of  this  continent.  But  are  our  Indians 
original  denizens  of  the  continent  in  the  full  sense  of  the 
term?  And  has  there  been,  in  former  times,  a  compara- 
tively civilized  race  in  the  north,  which  gradually  moved 
southward,  whose  relics  we  find  among  the  Aztecs  and  Incas 
of  a  recent  day?  Do  the  mounds  which  are  found  in  many 
places  in  the  north  represent  the  work  of  a  people  possessed 
of  science  and  power,  which  disappeared  so  long  ago  that  no 
memory  of  them  remains?  Is  the  Cyclopean  architecture  of 
Yucatan  and  Peru  the  monument  of  an  affluent  civilization 
superior  to  anything  known  at  the  time  of  the  Spanish  con- 
quest, which  has  left  no  other  record  of  itself  than  this? 

These  problems,  and  cognate  ones,  have  been  much  dis- 


10  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

cussed  during  the  past  half  century.  They  are  still  unsolved ; 
but  the  latest  investigators  incline  to  the  opinion  that  the  red 
men  of  North  and  Central  America  have  always  formed  sub- 
stantially one  race,  which  has  never  undergone  any  impor- 
tant changes,  other  than  the  variations  of  custom  and  con- 
dition due  to  environment.  Whether  or  not  this  race  be 
indigenous  is  of  small  moment,  provided  we  assume  that 
their  advent  from  some  other  place  occurred,  if  at  all,  be- 
fore the  period  of  any  human  records.  If  the  immigration 
occurred  before  the  time  of  the  man  of  Calaveras,  they  are 
indigenous  to  all  intents  and  purposes.  But  may  they  not 
have  come  hither  within  times  much  more  recent?  Attempts 
have  been  made,  in  this  connection,  to  establish  points  of  simi- 
larity between  tribes  on  the  east  coasts  of  Asia,  and  our  In- 
dians. Similarities  have  been  found  to  exist?  but  it  is  not 
certain  that  they  may  not  have  been  due  simply  to  the  fact 
that  any  two  men  are  apt  to  acquire  similar  habits  in  like 
circumstances,  no  matter  how  far  they  may  be  separated 
from  each  other.  In  other  words,  mankind  has  several 
points  of  common  resemblance;  and  if  you  apply  a  cer- 
tain stimulus  to  a  man,  he  is  apt  to  respond  with  a  certain 
action  or  state.  This  explanation  is  regarded  as  more  plausi- 
ble than  to  suppose  extensive  immigrations,  and  the  preser- 
vation of  customs.  But  the  fact  that  the  faces  of  some  of 
our  Indians  bear  a  likeness  to  Asiatic  peoples  on  the  eastern 
Pacific  coasts  is  not  so  easily  accounted  for;  and  again  there 
is  good  ground  for  the  belief  that  the  Esquimaux  are  the 
same  race  as  the  prehistoric  Cave-men  of  Europe.  The 
Cave-men  had  the  habit  of  carving  on  the  tusks  of  certain 
animals  figures  and  designs  of  a  lifelike  and  energetic  char- 
acter; and  the  Esquimaux  have  precisely  the  same  faculty, 
and  are  the  only  people  extant  who  do  have  it.  This  would 
indicate  that  the  Cave-men  are  ancestors  of  the  Esquimaux 
who  have  remained  practically  unchanged  since  that  remote 
era.  It  would  also  show,  of  course,  that  the  Cave-men  had 
a  vast  range  of  habitation,  far  exceeding  that  of  any  modern 
people.  Moreover,  it  is  easy  for  a  people  to  disperse  itself 


ONCE    UPON    A    TIME  17 

over  the  face  of  the  earth  nowadays ;  but  in  the  Cave-man 
age  there  were  no  ships  or  railways,  and  it  might  take 
thousands  of  generations  for  a  journey  from  England,  for 
instance,  to  Greenland.  We  might  almost  conclude  that 
Cave-men  were,  in  their  period,  the  sole  representatives  of 
the  human  race  on  this  planet.  But  even  this  would  not 
help  us  out  of  our  American  difficulty,  since  the  red  Indian 
and  the  Esquimaux  are  not  the  same  stock.  Ethnologists 
are  seldom  wholly  discomfited,  however;  and  when  asked 
how  it  can  be  maintained  that  an  Algonquin  Indian  from 
Maine  is  of  the  same  race  as  an  Aztec  or  Peruvian  Indian, 
he  escapes  from  the  snare  by  pointing  out  that  all  becomes 
reasonable  if  we  do  but  enlarge  our  definition  of  the  word 
"race."  Make  it  inclusive  enough,  and  it  will  include  all 
Indians  found  on  this  continent.  This  is  true;  yet  it  is  not 
entirely  conclusive  as  to  the  matter  under  discussion.  The 
difference  between  a  Piruan  and  a  Mohawk,  great  though 
it  be,  may  not  be  too  great  to  have  been  accomplished  by 
gradual  modifications  taking  place  within  the  boundaries  of 
a  common  racehood ;  but  to  concede  that  is  not  to  say  that 
they  were  so  accomplished ;  and  it  does  not  touch  the  other 
question,  whether,  supposing  them  to  have,  been  originally 
of  the  same  race,  one  part  of  that  race  may  not  have  re- 
mained in  Europe  thousands  of  years  after  the  other  had 
emigrated  to  America;  and,  when  the  former  followed  the 
latter,  may  not  have  brought  with  it  a  superior  culture  ac- 
quired in  favorable  Asiatic  or  European  environment.  But 
ethnology,  and  the  movements  of  races,  are  sciences  still  in 
their  infancy;  and  much  of  what  is  asserted  about  such 
matters  is,  when  investigated,  shown  to  be  the  merest  guess- 
work. When  all  has  been  said,  we  still  do  not  know  where 
our  Indians  came  from,  how  long  they  have  been  here,  or 
whether  they  are  of  one  or  several  races.  Nor  can  we  even 
tell  whether  they  are  in  the  same  state  of  culture  now  as 
at  their  first  appearance,  whether  they  have  advanced,  or 
whether  they  have  retrograded.  Apposite  to  this  inquiry 
is  the  subject  of  the  Mounds. 


18  HISTORY   OF   SPANISH   AMERICA 

But  in  order  intelligently  to  approach  that  subject,  we 
should  clarify  our  ideas  as  to  what  is  meant  by  the  words 
savagery,  barbarism,  and  civilization,  as  applied  to  progres- 
sive stages  of  human  culture.  Of  course  the  terms  are  arbi- 
trary. He  whom  we  consider  a  savage  would  regard  a  bar- 
barian as  civilized ;  and  we  may  presume  that  the  men  of  a 
thousand  years  hence  will  look  upon  our  present  condition 
as  barbarous.  Nevertheless,  when  we  are  confronted  with 
ambiguities  of  this  kind,  the  best  thing  we  can  do  is  to  insti- 
tute a  rough-and-ready  working  system,  and  get  whatever 
practical  results  from  it  we  may.  That  useful  function  has 
been  discharged  for  us  in  this  case  by  the  late  Lewis  F. 
Morgan,  whose  formulas  we  shall  briefly  explain,  and  make 
use  of  under  limitations. 

Mr.  Morgan  begins  by  suggesting  a  dividing  line  between 
savages  and  barbarians;  and  he  draws  it  at  the  making  of 
pots  and  kettles  of  clay.  His  reason  for  this  is  (as  Professor 
Fiske  remarks)  that  the  making  of  pottery  presupposes  vil- 
lage life  and  some  progress  in  the  simpler  arts.  Food  was 
originally  boiled  either  by  putting  it  in  holes  in  the  ground 
lined  with  skins,  or  in  clay-coated  baskets ;  and  Mr.  Morgan 
supposes  that  the  savage,  noticing  that  the  clay  not  only  pre- 
vented liquid  from  escaping,  but  was  hardened  by  the  fire, 
conceived,  in  the  course  of  ages,  the  idea  of  retaining  the 
clay  in  his  vessel  and  omitting  the  basket.  At  that  moment, 
unknown  to  himself,  he  ceased  to  be  a  savage  and  became  a 
barbarian.  A  barbarian,  then,  is  an  uncivilized  person  who 
makes  vessels  of  clay. 

And  when  does  the  barbarian  become  civilized?  When, 
according  to  Mr.  Morgan,  he  invents  a  phonetic  alphabet  and 
keeps  written  records.  No  matter  how  high  his  physical  or- 
ganization may  be,  how  delicately  perceptive  his  brain,  how 
comfortable  his  general  condition,  he  is  not  civilized  until  he 
finds  out  how  to  write  and  how  to  make  libraries.  And  no 
doubt  Mr.  Morgan  has  fair  warrant  for  his  rule.  Writing 
seems  very  easy  after  it  has  been  invented ;  it  is  the  first 
thing  we  teach  our  children  in  school,  and  that  child  is  held 


ONCE    UPON    A    TIME  19 

very  stupid  who  has  not  mastered  the  alphabet.  But  when, 
in  maturer  years,  we  have  reviewed  the  whole  process  by 
which  men  arrived  at  the  conception  of  representing  ideas 
by  marks  on  skins  or  other  substances,  we  begin  to  acquire 
a  respect  for  the  familiar  row  of  letters.  First  there  was  the 
observation  of  objects;  then,  the  attempt  to  reproduce  them 
by  drawing;  then,  the  conventionalization  of  certain  of  these 
drawings — short-hand  sketches,  so  to  say,  of  horses,  birds, 
trees  and  so  forth.  Even  then  our  inventor  was  a  long  way 
from  giving  these  marks  a  phonetic  value,  and  combining 
them  in  words.  It  required  a  faculty  of  abstract  thinking 
which  belongs  to  man  exclusively,  and  only  to  man  after  a 
very  long  apprenticeship  and  drilling.  He  must  have  sat 
still  and  used  his  mind  vigorously  for  a  long  while  before 
he  hit  the  true  conception.  Cadmus,  whoever  he  was,  de- 
serves all  the  credit  that  has  been  awarded  to  him ;  and  not 
every  "professor"  of  the  present  day  is  intellectually  capable 
of  achieving  a  parallel  feat. 

But  it  is  not  merely  the  invention  of  phonetic  writing  that 
entitles  the  man  to  be  called  civilized ;  it  is  the  effect  of  the 
invention  upon  his  condition.  For  he  now  becomes  able  to 
rise  above  his  individual  powers,  and  to  avail  himself  of  all 
the  accumulated  and  aggregated  attainments  of  his  race  and 
ancestry.  He  can  refer  to  records,  showing  what  has  been 
done  and  thought;  and  he  can  stand  on  these  and  reach  for- 
ward to  further  exploits.  His  single  brain  is  reinforced 
with  the  brains  of  all  his  predecessors  and  contemporaries. 
Thus  his  power  is  indefinitely  multiplied;  and  he  in  turn 
hands  down  this  multiplied  faculty  and  result  to  his  pos- 
terity. Nature,  instead  of  being  his  master,  begins  now 
to  obey  him  and  to  become  plastic  to  his  thought;  the  arts 
and  sciences  commence;  machinery  appears,  and,  in  due 
course,  the  Nineteenth  Century  American. 

Beyond  a  doubt,  letters  are  the  beginning  of  material 
progress.  At  all  events,  we  know  nothing  of  any  marked 
material  prosperity  in  the  past  without  letters.  Of  course, 
we  are  free  to  deny  the  identity  of  material  prosperity  and 


20  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

true  civilization.  This,  again,  is  a  matter  of  terms.  Homer 
was  the  greatest  of  poets,  and  letters  had  not  been  invented 
when  he  sang — at  least,  in  Greece.  Literature  augments 
the  power  of  the  race,  and  its  wealth ;  but  it  may  tend  to 
diminish  the  individual.  The  faculty  of  memory  is  far  from 
being  as  highly  developed  as  it  used  to  be.  Books  take  the 
place  of  thought  in  a  degree,  and  in  other  ways  impair  our 
independence.  Only  a  minute  fraction  of  what  is  written  is 
worth  reading;  much  is  directly  injurious,  or  wasteful.  Men 
are  not  happier  for  their  wealth ;  and  the  discrepancy  be- 
tween poor  and  rich  disturbs  society.  Yet,  upon  the  whole, 
the  path  of  the  race  seems  to  be  upward ;  and  it  must  lie 
through  material  prosperity.  Not  until  we  have  completed 
the  conquest  of  nature  can  we  turn  our  attention  to  breath- 
ing a  soul  into  this  accumulation  of  dead  things,  and  so  per- 
haps learn  the  secret  of  a  new  and  freer  dominion  over  them. 

But  Mr.  Morgan  goes  further  than  the  fixing  of  the  dis- 
tinction between  savage,  barbarian  and  civilized.  There  must 
needs  be  subdivisions,  in  order  to  render  the  masses  less  un- 
wieldy. Accordingly,  he  specifies  three  grades  of  savagery, 
and  three  of  barbarism.  In  the  lowest  savage  state  man  had 
just  begun  to  talk,  but  had  not  yet  discovered  how  to  fish  or 
hunt ;  he  lived  on  berries,  fruits,  and  raw  roots.  In  this  state 
he  could  not  venture  far  from  the  place  of  his  nativity,  lest 
he  be  cut  off  from  his  source  of  supplies.  But  the  art  of 
fishing,  and  the  discovery  of  fire,  brought  him  to  the  second 
savage  state,  and  gave  him  courage  to  wander  along  coasts 
or  river  banks,  and  thus  to  overspread  the  earth.  Finally, 
our  savage  hits  upon  the  really  masterly  device  of  the  bow 
and  arrow :  suggested,  it  may  be,  by  the  snapping  back  of 
branches  as  he  passed  through  the  forest :  but,  at  any  rate, 
evincing  the  faculty  of  following  out  a  chain  of  reasoning. 
He  is  now  a  graduate  of  savagery,  and  ready  to  enter  upon 
his  first  course  of  barbarism. 

This,  as  we  have  seen,  begins  with  pottery.  From  this 
he  goes  on  to  the  taming  of  animals,  and  thus  enables  him- 
self to  live  without  hunting,  and  consequently  in  much  more 


ONCE    UPON    A    TIME  21 

restricted  quarters  than  formerly.  This  pastoral  state  was 
omitted  in  America;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  cultivation 
of  Indian  corn,  or  maize,  took  its  place  in  a  measure,  and 
inasmuch  as  it  could  be  raised  without  first  clearing  and 
plowing  the  ground,  obviated  the  need  for  spades,  plows, 
hoes  and  rakes,  which  eastern  barbarians  required  for  their 
crops  of  wheat.  Here,  then,  we  find  the  spontaneous  bounty 
of  nature  placing  man  at  an  advantage  which,  otherwise, 
he  could  have  gained  only  by  dint  of  many  ages  of  intel- 
lectual training.  Indian  corn  made  Indian  villages  pos- 
sible; and  Indian  villages,  with  their  wigwams,  were  the 
beginning,  according  to  Mr.  Morgan,  of  Indian  Mounds, 
and  Mexican  pueblos  and  "cities." 

All  this  sounds  probable  and  rational,  and  there  are  no 
good  grounds  for  rejecting  it.  Nearly  all  the  stages  of  sav- 
agery and  barbarism  which  Mr.  Morgan  instances  in  his 
analysis  are  at  present  in  existence  in  one  or  another  part 
of  the  world:  only  the  very  lowest  has  to  be  supplied  by 
inference.  And  provided  we  bear  it  in  mind  that  the  dis- 
tinctions are  inevitably  arbitrary,  and  that  there  are  no 
known  cases  of  men  caught  in  the  act  of  passing  from  one 
grade  of  culture  to  a  higher  one,  we  shall  find  the  system 
useful,  and  tending  to  clarify  materially  the  subjects  with 
which  we  have  to  deal.  We  know  that  the  civilized  man 
progresses,  and  why  should  not  the  savage  and  the  barbarian? 

The  methods  of  the  cultivation  of  Indian  corn  were 
improved  in  the  more  southern  parts  of  North  America, 
coincidently  with  the  increasing  pressure  of  population, 
irrigation  being  introduced  where  rainfall  was  deficient. 
Indian  corn  was  the  staple  as  far  south  as  Central  Amer- 
ica ;  in  Peru,  the  potato,  indigenous  there,  supplied  its  place. 
In  the  higher  grades  of  American  barbarism,  houses  were 
made  of  adobe  and  stone;  weapons  and  tools  were  wrought 
of  stone  finely  chipped  or  polished,  and  in  some  cases  of  cop- 
per; but  iron  was  never  smelted  in  the  western  hemisphere. 
Consequently  Mr.  Morgan  places  the  Aztecs  and  Incas  at  the 


22  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

time  of  the  Spanish  conquest  lower  in  the  scale  of  culture 
than  the  Greeks  at  the  period  of  Homer,  and  the  Germans 
in  Caesar's  age.  But  since,  if  we  adhere  strictly  to  his  sys- 
tem, we  must  deny  civilization  to  the  Egyptians,  on  the 
ground  that  they  had  no  phonetic  alphabet — which  would 
be  a  manifest  absurdity — it  is  plain  that  all  these  distinc- 
tions should  be  taken  with  reservations,  and  only  used  to 
avoid  confusion.  "It  will  be  observed,"  says  Professor 
Fiske,  "that,  with  one  exception,  these  restrictions  leave 
the  area  of  civilization  as  wide  as  that  which  we  are  ac- 
customed to  assign  to  it  in  our  ordinary  speaking  and  think- 
ing. That  exception  is  the  case  of  Mexico,  Central  America, 
and  Peru.  We  have  been  so  long  accustomed  to  gorgeous 
accounts  of  the  civilization  of  these  countries  at  the  time  of 
their  discovery  by  the  Spaniards  that  it  may  at  first  shock 
our  preconceived  notions  to  see  them  set  down  as  in  the 
'middle  state  of  barbarism,'  one  stage  higher  than  the  Mo- 
hawks, and  one  stage  lower  than  the  warriors  of  the  Iliad. 
This  does  indeed  mark  a  change  since  Dr.  Draper  expressed 
the  opinion  that  the  Mexicans  and  Peruvians  were  morally 
and  intellectually  superior  to  the  Europeans  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  The  reaction  from  the  state  of  opinion  in  which 
such  an  extravagant  remark  was  even  possible  has  been  at- 
tended with  some  controversy;  but  on  the  whole  Mr.  Mor- 
gan's main  position  has  been  steadily  and  rapidly  gaining 
ground,  and  it  is  -becoming  more  and  more  clear  that  if  we 
are  to  use  language  correctly  when  we  speak  of  the  civiliza- 
tions of  Mexico  and  Peru,  we  really  mean  civilizations  of  an 
extremely  archaic  type,  considerably  more  archaic  than  that 
of  Egypt  in  the  time  of  the  Pharaohs.  A  'civilization'  like 
that  of  the  Aztecs,  without  domestic  animals  or  iron  tools, 
with  trade  still  in  the  primitive  stage  of  barter,  with  human 
sacrifices,  and  with  cannibalism,  has  certainly  some  of  the 
most  vivid  features  of  barbarism.  Along  with  these  primi- 
tive features,  however,  there  seem  to  have  been — after  mak- 
ing all  due  allowances — some  features  of  luxury  and  splendor 
such  as  we  are  wont  to  associate  with  civilization.  The 


ONCE    UPON    A    TIME  23 

Aztecs,  moreover,  though  doubtless  a  full  ethnical  period 
behind  the  ancient  Egyptians  in  general  advancement,  had 
worked  out  a  system  of  hieroglyphic  writing,  and  had  begun 
to  put  it  to  some  literary  use.  It  would  seem  that  a  people 
may  in  certain  special  points  reach  a  level  of  attainment 
higher  than  the  level  which  they  occupy  on  other  points. 
The  Cave-men  of  the  Glacial  period  were  ignorant  of  pot- 
tery, and  thus  had  not  risen  above  the  upper  status  of 
savagery;  but  their  artistic  talent,  upon  which  we  hare 
remarked,  was  not  such  as  we  are  wont  to  associate  with 
savagery.  Other  instances  will  occur  to  us  in  the  proper 
place."  The  fact  is — if  Professor  Fiske's  infatuation  with 
the  letter  of  evolution  would  but  permit  him  to  see  it — that 
Mr.  Morgan's  theory  is  not  a  true  theory  at  all,  but  only  a 
working  hypothesis,  good  until  we  discover  a  closer  approxi- 
mation. We  cannot  argue  from  men  in  prehistoric  Europe 
to  men  in  prehistoric  America,  or  affirm  dogmatically  that, 
in  all  that  goes  to  make  a  man,  an  ancient  Peruvian  or 
Aztecan  was  not  the  peer  of  an  ancient  Egyptian  or  Greek. 
They  did  not  do  quite  the  same  things  in  the  same  way,  nor 
employ  the  same  materials  or  instruments;  but  they  were 
never  under  any  obligations  to  conform  to  Mr.  Morgan's 
rules.  Even  Professor  Fiske  is  constrained  to  acknowledge 
that  in  certain  parts  of  ancient  America,  barbarism  "ceases 
to  appear  otherwise  than  respectable." 

The  social  institutions  of  our  Indians  merit  some  notice ; 
the  most  remarkable  feature  being  the  general  observance 
of  what  is  called  the  "mother- right" — that  is,  the  system  of 
kinship  through  mothers  only,  instead  of  through  the  fathers. 
This  mother-right  is  said  to  have,  everywhere  throughout  the 
world,  so  far  as  is  known,  preceded  the  patriarchal  idea ;  in- 
deed, it  is  surmised  that  the  latter  has  been  attained  by  the 
highest  races  only.  The  conception  of  monogamy,  and  of 
indissoluble  marriage,  would  seem  to  be  of  modern  growth. 
In  the  original  state  of  man,  we  are  told,  the  family  was 
indiscoverable,  and  men  lived  in  hordes  like  cattle.  From 
this,  cases  of  individual  pairing-off  occurred,  until  at  length 


24:  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

the  gens  or  kin  was  recognizable;  a  group  of  males  and 
females  traditionally  conscious  of  their  common  descent  in 
the  female  line.  The  men  of  a  clan  were  forbidden  to  marry 
inside  their  clan;  they  must  practice  "exogamy."  The  clan 
persisted  even  after  descent  from  the  father  was  established ; 
and  a  group  of  clans  constituted  a  "phratry,"  which,  again, 
were  combined  in  tribes.  These  primitive  societies  had  small 
conception  of  personal  property  and  knew  nothing  of  real 
estate ;  land  being  merely  occupied  by  the  tribe ;  but  grad- 
ually, as  the  tribe  became  more  nearly  stationary,  property 
was  accumulated  by  individuals,  and  as  a  consequence  po- 
lygamy and  monogamy  began,  and  the  mother-right  fell 
into  desuetude.  But  this  state  of  things  had  not  been  es- 
tablished in  America  at  the  period  of  the  conquest;  there 
might  be  patriarchal  instances,  but  the  mother-right  was 
maintained  coincidently.  The  marriage  contract  could  be 
dissolved  at  the  will  of  either  party  to  it.  The  social  unit 
was  not  the  family  but  still  the  clan.  And  it  is  thought  to 
be  owing  to  this  fact  that  the  architecture  of  the  American 
building  Indians  assumed  the  character  that  it  did. 

They  built  their  houses  to  fit  their  way  of  living.  This 
way  was  communal,  and  all  their  buildings,  in  principle,  are 
adapted  to  the  communal  system.  From  the  lowest  style  of 
savage  huts  to  the  wonderful  sculptured  ruins  of  Yucatan, 
the  principal  is  the  same.  In  the  "long-houses"  of  certain 
North  American  tribes,  the  edifice  was  a  structure  of  poles 
fixed  upright  in  the  ground,  with  a  gabled  roof  of  rafters 
shingled  with  bark.  The  house  would  be  as  much  as  a 
hundred  feet  in  length,  with  an  opening  at  each  end;  and 
within,  compartments  eight  feet  in  width  opened  like  stalls 
upon  the  central  passage.  In  this  passage  fire-pits  were 
made  at  regular  intervals;  bunks  were  fixed  against  the 
walls  of  the  compartments;  corn  hung  from  the  ridge-pole; 
and  each  house  was  occupied  by  related  families.  The  prod- 
ucts raised  by  any  member  of  the  household  were  common 
property;  matrons  presided  over  the  establishment.  Chil- 
dren were  in  common,  as  well  as  food;  the  young  wife 


ONCE   UPON   A   TIME  25 

brought  her  husband  home  with  her,  and  she  might  exile 
him  thence  if  he  proved  lazy  and  unprofitable.  The  head 
of  the  clan  was  the  sachem,  elected  by  the  clan  from  among 
its  number ;  he  could  be  succeeded  by  a  brother  but  not  by 
a  son,  and  could  be  deposed  upon  occasion ;  the  chiefs  were 
war  captains,  there  being  one  for  each  fifty  members  or 
thereabout;  in  a  tribe,  there  might  be  from  three  to  up- 
ward of  twenty  clans,  massed  in  phratries.  There  were  clan 
councils,  from  which  women  were  not  debarred.  Tribes  were 
distinguished  by  an  exclusive  dialect ;  their  government  was 
vested  in  a  council  of  chiefs  and  sachems ;  sometimes  there 
was  a  head-chief  of  a  number  of  tribes,  elected  by  the  coun- 
cil. In  Europe  such  head-chiefs  ultimately  developed  into 
kings ;  but  there  was  nothing  exactly  answering  to  the  Euro- 
pean idea  of  a  king  in  America.  Beyond  the  tribe,  or  a  con- 
federation of  tribes,  the  American  social  structure  did  not 
go;  the  modern  civilized  conception  of  a  nation  was  never 
fully  attained.  But  the  distinction  between  a  nation  and  a 
permanent  confederation  of  tribes  is  not  at  first  sight  very 
apparent.  In  the  north,  the  League  of  the  Iroquois  was  the 
most  conspicuous  example;  it  entailed  the  imposition  of  trib- 
ute, but  did  not  result  as  in  the  Old  World  in  the  fusing  of 
peoples  of  different  degrees  of  development.  The  basis  of  all 
combinations  was  the  clan  of  a  common  maternal  ancestry. 

The  next  advance  in  architecture  above  the  long-house 
is  the  circular  house  of  the  Mandans.  It  was  forty  to  sixty 
feet  in  diameter,  with  a  conical  roof,  in  the  centre  of  which 
was  the  opening  for  the  escape  of  smoke;  the  only  other 
opening  was  a  door  in  the  side.  The  family  compartments 
were  of  triangular  shape,  with  apexes  toward  the  central 
fire.  A  village  might  contain  thirty  or  more  such  houses; 
they  were  built  on  easily  defensible  sites,  and  surrounded 
by  palisades  and  bastions.  There  was  also  in  the  village 
a  medicine-lodge  or  council-house,  and  an  open  space  for 
games  and  dances. 

The  next  step  is  to  the  Mayas  and  Peruvians  of  Yucatan 
and  Peru,  and  the  Toltecs  and  Aztecans  of  the  Mexican  pla- 


26  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH   AMERICA 

teau.  "We  find  clay  walls  supported  by  wooden  frames,  as 
in  the  primitive  baskets  coated  with  clay  already  mentioned. 
These  were  improved  by  thickening  the  clay  wall  and  remov- 
ing the  superfluous  framework.  Thus  we  get  the  terraced 
pueblo  walls  of  the  Zunis,  and  more  southern  tribes.  After- 
ward rubble-stone  was  embedded  in  the  adobe,  and  finally 
limestone  was  shaped  with  flint  chisels  and  laid  in  courses 
with  adobe  mortar. 

The  typical  pueblo  is  a  solid  block  of  buildings  surround- 
ing three  sides  of  a  square;  the  inner  side  is  lowest,  whence 
it  ascends  by  terraces  to  five  or  six  stories  on  the  outside. 
On  the  fourth  side  of  the  rectangle  is  a  one-story  block  of 
apartments  with  one  or  two  narrow  gateways,  constituting 
the  only  entrances.  Access  to  the  various  apartments  was 
gained  through  skylights  reached  by  portable  ladders.  Such 
a  structure,  accommodating  sometimes  as  many  as  five  thou- 
sand persons,  might  be  called  a  fortress  town ;  or  we  might 
compare  it  with  one  of  our  huge  modern  flat-houses  or  tene- 
ments. The  pueblo  Indians  were,  like  their  less  advanced 
brethren,  organized  in  clans,  with  descent  in  the  female  line. 
They  were  governed  by  a  council  of  sachems,  with  a  princi- 
pal sachem  known  as  cacique.  The  priesthood  was  organ- 
ized, and  observed  an  elaborate  ceremonial ;  each  pueblo  had 
ts  estufa  or  council-house  for  religious  as  well  as  govern- 
mental transactions.  These  Indians  were  advanced  in  their 
mythology  and  picture-writing  above  their  fellows  to  the 
north. 

The  pueblos  varied  somewhat  in  form,  though  always 
constructed  on  the  same  principle;  the  much-discussed  cliff- 
dwellings  are  pueblos  adapted  to  peculiar  local  conditions. 
The  pueblo  at  Zuni  is  practically  a  small  town  of  communal 
houses  massed  together,  with  streets  and  plazas;  it  much 
impressed  the  Spaniards,  who  compared  it  with  the  city  of 
Granada.  But,  as  a  matter-of-fact  explorer  remarks,  Span- 
ish conquerors  were  more  emotional  than  statistical.  They 
magnified  the  importance  of  their  acquisitions,  because  they 
had  acquired  them.  They  estimated  the  population  of  a 


ONCE    UPON    A    TIME  27 

Mexican  pueblo  town  at  two  hundred  thousand,  for  exam- 
ple, when  sober  truth  should  have  been  content  with  one- 
sixth  as  many.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Aztecans  made  their 
stone  buildings  at  least  as  massive  as  those  of  Spain,  and 
the  Spaniards'  admiration  of  this  feature  was  well  deserved. 
But  they  were  again  astray  in  their  interpretation  of  Aztecan 
society,  mistaking  war-chiefs  for  emperors  and  communal 
houses  for  palaces.  They  foresaw  nothing  of  Mr.  Morgan 
and  the  evolutionists,  and  fancied  that  the  assembled  tribes 
were  organized  nations.  Between  European  feudalism  and 
Aztecan  gentilism  the  discrepancy  was  great,  but  not  out- 
wardly obvious.  It  was  the  discrepancy  between  territorial 
and  personal  ownership  of  property,  or  organization.  No 
American  tribes  had  taken  the  step  from  the  latter  to  the 
former.  What  the  Spaniards  took  to  be  the  empire  of  Mon- 
tezuma,  therefore,  was  in  fact  a  confederacy  of  tribes  living 
in  pueblos,  governed  by  a  council  of  chiefs,  and  exacting 
tribute  from  their  neighbors.  It  did  not  attempt  a  military 
occupation  of  the  country,  but  its  chiefs  were  sent  out  peri- 
odically to  collect  the  tribute,  and  if  it  was  not  paid,  the 
recalcitrant  pueblo  was  destroyed,  and  its  inmates  taken 
captive,  and  most  of  them  sacrificed  and  often  eaten. 

Mexico  City  was  the  Aztecan  headquarters,  and  the  four 
phratries  of  the  great  tribe  divided  it  into  four  quarters. 
In  each  quarter  was  an  arsenal,  supplied  with  weapons. 
The  supreme  power  in  the  tribe  was  exercised  by  tne  twenty 
members  of  the  council,  assembling  every  ten  days  or  oftener; 
and  every  three  months  a  sort  of  senate  of  older  men  was 
convened  to  reconsider  disputed  decisions  of  the  council — 
which  last,  however,  could  always  enforce  its  will  in  the 
last  resort.  The  civil  sachem  was  lieutenant  to  the  head 
war-chief  or  "chief -of -men,"  who,  about  half  a  century  be- 
fore the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards,  was  made  supreme  military 
commander  of  the  confederated  tribes.  Had  it  not  been  for 
the  civil  sachem,  who  retained  the  functions  of  magistrate, 
and  but  for  the  fact  that  he  had  no  landlord  powers,  for  the 
reason  that  there  could  be  no  landlordship  in  Mexico,  the 


28  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

chief -of -men  would  have  been  king  indeed ;  and  hi  addition 
to  his  leadership  in  war,  he  exercised  priestly  functions. 
His  office,  though  elective,  was  restricted  to  the  members 
of  one  clan,  and  some  principle  of  succession  seems  to  have 
been  observed ;  but  he  could  be  deposed,  like  all  other  Indian 
officials,  for  cause. 

Upon  the  whole,  the  most  advanced  advocates  of  Aztecan 
barbarism,  as  against  civilization,  admit  that  they  were  "a 
full  ethnic  period"  ahead  of  the  northern  Indians  of  the  con- 
tinent. There  were  regular  roads  through  the  province,  and 
markets  were  periodically  held  for  the  exchange  of  produce. 
Instead  of  being  wantonly  tortured  to  death,  captives  were 
sacrificed  with  due  ceremony  to  the  gods.  Slavery,  which 
is  regarded  as  an  evidence  of  approximate  civilization,  had 
commenced  among  the  Aztecs.  The  Aztec  clan  was  exoga- 
mous,  but  descent  in  the  male  line  was  recognized,  and  fam- 
ilies had  come  into  existence:  the  wife  was  the  husband's 
property.  There  was  a  visible  comprehension  of  the  right 
of  private  ownership,  the  outcome  of  trade.  A  kind  of  paper 
made  of  maguey  was  manufactured,  upon  which  picture- 
writing  was  done;  and  though  this  writing  has  remained 
undecipherable,  that  does  not  prevent  its  claim  to  be  a  sort 
of  literature.  The  city  itself  was  beautiful  and  luxurious ; 
"pleasure  gardens,  menageries  and  aviaries,  fountains  and 
baths,  tessellated  marble  floors,  finely  wrought  pottery,  ex- 
quisite feather-work,  brilliant  mats  and  tapestries,  silver 
goblets,  dainty  spices  burning  in  golden  censers,  varieties 
of  highly-seasoned  dishes,  dramatic  performances,  jugglers 
and  acrobats,  ballad-singers  and  dancing-girls — such  things 
were  to  be  seen  in  this  city  of  snake- worshipping  cannibals. 
It  simulated  civilization  as  a  tree-fern  simulates  a  tree." 
Such  is  Professor  Fiske's  conclusion,  after  due  study  of 
Morgan  and  Bandelier.  It  may  be  remarked  that  a  tree- 
fern  is  very  like  a  tree;  and  that  the  difference  between  a 
people  in  the  "middle  period  of  barbarism"  and  in  the  early 
stage  of  civilization  might  not  unfairly  be  compared,  for  the 
most  part,  to  the  famous  one  between  Tweedle-dum  and 


ONCE    UPON   A   TIME  29 

Tweedle-dee.  Or  shall  we  simply  say,  once  more,  that 
America  and  Europe  developed  along  somewhat  different 
lines,  each  showing  features  that  were  not  found  in  the 
other? 

Concerning  the  ruins  of  vast  so-called  cities  in  the  forests 
of  Yucatan  and  the  Isthmus,  we  can  speak  only  from  infer- 
ence and  conjecture.  It  has  been  assumed  that  these  were  of 
a  piece  with  the  ancient  city  of  Mexico,  and  might  belong  to 
about  the  same  date.  They  were  the  work  of  the  Mayas,  or  of 
the  Toltecs  (if  the  latter  people  really  existed),  and  the  Mayas 
and  the  Aztecs  in  many  points  were  alike,  though  the  former 
seem  superior  in  several  respects.  Their  system  of  writing 
differed  from  the  Aztecan,  and  is  regarded  by  experts  as 
better  than  that  of  the  Assyrians  at  their  best.  Their  im- 
mense buildings  have  been  called  palaces,  and  have  been 
supposed  to  be  remnants  of  cities;  but  their  similarity  to 
pueblos  cannot  be  denied,  and  they  may,  themselves,  have 
been  all  the  cities  there  were.  That  they  belong  to  a  very 
remote  antiquity  cannot  be  proved,  though  the  present  races 
profess  to  know  nothing  of  their  origin;  this  is  negative 
testimony,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  inscriptions  on  their 
walls  seem  to  be  in  the  same  characters  as  those  found  in 
extant  maguey  writings.  Stress  was  laid  upon  the  great 
age  of  the  mahogany  trees  found  growing  within  them, 
which  was  figured  at  two  thousand  years;  but  it  was  dis- 
covered that  the  rings  of  trees  in  this  region  are  produced 
at  the  rate  of  one  a  month,  instead  of  one  a  year.  The 
Maya  builders  did  not  know  the  secret  of  the  arch;  their 
walls  are  filled  with  mortar  and  small  stones,  and  the  slabs 
themselves  are  of  a  stone  originally  soft,  so  as  to  be  readily 
cut  with  flint  chisels.  It  is  possible,  therefore,  that  these 
great  ruins  may  not  be  over  seven  hundred  years  old. 

And  yet  the  opinions  of  men  like  Mr.  Byron  Gordon,  who 
has  been  one  of  the  most  thorough  explorers  of  these  ambig- 
uous ruins,  are  entitled  to  great  weight.  He  regards  the 
Mayas  and  the  Aztecs  as  having  had  an  entirely  separate 
political  existence,  with  radical  differences  in  language  and 


30  flISTOBY    OF    SPANISH   AMERICA 

customs,  though  their  legends  seem  to  show  a  community 
of  origin  in  some  indefinitely  remote  past.  He  calls  the 
Maya  "civilization"  much  the  older  of  the  two.  "Centuries 
before  the  kingdom  of  the  Montezumas  the  curtain  had 
already  fallen  on  another  empire's  career.  At  the  time  of 
the  conquest  a  number  of  tribes  still  haunted  the  vicinity 
of  the  deserted  cities;  they  called  themselves  Maya  people; 
they  doubtless  had  traditions,  some  of  which  have  been 
handed  down  by  the  early  missionaries,  but  perverted  by  the 
efforts  to  interpret  them  in  the  light  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
Full  of  the  fancies  and  imagery  of  the  East,  those  who  un- 
dertook to  teach  the  Indians  were  unable  to  comprehend  a 
traditional  knowledge  of  institutions  more  advanced,  and 
an  intelligence  far  more  liberal  than  our  own. ' ' — It  will  be 
noted  that  Mr.  Gordon  has  not  the  fear  of  the  evolutionists 
before  his  eyes. 

He  goes  on  to  speak  of  the  books  of  the  Mayas,  consist- 
ing of  long  strips  of  paper  made  from  the  maguey  fibre,  and 
folded  after  the  manner  of  a  screen  so  as  to  form  pages  about 
nine  by  five  inches,  covered  with  hieroglyphic  characters 
neatly  drawn  in  brilliant  colors  by  hand.  Boards  were  fast- 
ened on  the  outside  pages,  making  the  book  look  like  a  large 
octavo  volume.  "This  system  is  entirely  distinct  from  the 
picture-writing  of  the  Aztecs;  it  was  a  highly  developed 
system,  and  embraced  a  number  of  phonetic  elements.  Le- 
gend ascribes  the  invention  of  these  characters  to  Itzamna, 
the  Maya  Cadmus,  who  led  his  people  from  the  East  across 
the  sea.  Although  nothing  has  yet  been  found  which  enables 
any  man  to  decipher  a  single  inscription,  there  is  ground  for 
hope  in  the  future.  Not  only  were  the  Mayas  literary,  but 
they  attained  proficiency  in  the  use  of  figures.  They  counted 
by  units  and  scores.  Their  chronological  scheme  embraced 
two  counts:  the  base  of  one  was  the  astronomical  year  of 
three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days,  beginning  on  the  day 
of  the  transit  of  the  sun  by  the  zenith,  and  divided  into 
eighteen  months  of  twenty  days  each ;  and  they  added  the 
five  days  to  complete  the  solar  year  at  the  end  of  the  last 


OtfCE    UPON    A    TIME  31 

month.  The  years  were  arranged  in  twenty-year  cycles, 
called  Katimes,  of  which  thirteen  made  a  king  katun.  In 
religious  matters,  however,  the  Mayas  adhered  to  an  older 
system,  a  ceremonial  year  of  two  hundred  and  sixty  days, 
derived  from  mythical  notions.  Attempts  to  reconcile  these 
two  time-counts  led  to  the  development  of  a  capable  system 
of  mathematics." 

Speaking  of  the  ruins  of  Co-pan,  Mr.  Gordon  says  that 
the  city  is  more  ancient  than  Palenque  in  Chiapas,  and  was 
probably  the  earlier  home  of  the  Maya  race.  Situated  in 
a  beautiful  and  rarely  visited  valley  of  Honduras,  Co-pan 
is  one  of  the  greatest  of  mysteries.  "Here  are  the  remains 
of  a  city  as  remarkable  as  any  of  the  ancient  centres  of  civ- 
ilization in  the  Old  "World.  The  area  comprised  within  the 
old  city  limits  comprises  about  eight  miles  in  length  by  two 
in  width.  This  plain  is  covered  with  the  remains  of  stone 
houses,  doubtless  the  habitations  of  the  wealthy.  The 
streets,  squares  and  courtyards  were  paved  with  stone,  or 
with  white  cement,  and  drainage  was  accomplished  by  cov- 
ered canals  and  underground  sewers  of  stone  and  cement. 
On  the  slopes  of  the  mountains  are  found  innumerable  ruins, 
and  even  on  the  highest  mountain  peaks  are  fallen  columns 
and  ruined  structures.  But  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Co-pan 
River,  in  the  midst  of  the  city,  stands  the  principal  group 
of  structures — the  temples,  palaces,  and  buildings  of  a  public 
character.  A  vast,  irregular  pile  rises  from  the  plain  in 
steps  and  terraces  of  masonry,  and  terminating  in  several 
pyramidal  elevations,  each  topped  by  the  remains  of  a  tem- 
ple. Unlike  the  Egyptian  pyramids,  this  is  not  the  embodi- 
ment of  a  definite  idea,  built  on  a  preconceived  plan  for  a 
specific  purpose,  but  is  the  complex  result  of  a  long  process 
of  development,  corresponding  to  the  growth  of  culture.  Its 
sides  face  the  four  cardinal  points ;  its  greatest  length  from 
north  to  south  is  about  eight  hundred  feet,  and  nearly  as 
much  from  west  to  east.  But  the  swift  current  of  the  river 
has  carried  away  part  of  this  side,  exposing  the  interior  in 
the  form  of  a  cliff  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  high,  pre- 


32  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

senting  a  complicated  system  of  buried  walls  and  floors  down 
to  the  water's  edge — doubtless  the  remains  of  older  buildings, 
abandoned  to  serve  as  foundations  for  later  structures.  Ex- 
cavations have  also  brought  to  light,  beneath  the  foundations 
of  buildings  now  occupying  the  surface,  filled  chambers  and 
broken  walls  of  older  structures,  and  sculptured  monuments. 
There  is  just  enough  difference  between  these  relics  and 
those  of  later  date  to  indicate  a  change  in  style  and  treat- 
ment. Lower  still  I  am  inclined  to  expect  that  the  rude 
beginnings  from  which  sprang  the  later  culture  will  be 
found,  showing  Co-pan  to  be  the  oldest  Maya  city,  and  the 
valley  to  be  the  cradle  of  the  race. 

"Within  the  main  structure,"  continues  Mr.  Gordon,  "at 
an  elevation  of  sixty  feet,  is  a  court  one  hundred  and  twenty 
feet  square.  It  was  entered  from  the  south  through  a  pas- 
sage thirty  feet  wide,  between  two  high  pyramidal  founda- 
tions, each  supporting  a  temple.  A  thick  wall,  pierced  in 
its  centre  by  a  gateway,  guarded  this  passage  to  the  south. 
Ranges  of  steps  or  seats,  as  in  an  amphitheatre,  rise  to  a 
height  of  twenty  feet,  built  of  great  blocks  of  stone  neatly 
laid  without  mortar.  In  the  centre  of  the  western  side  a 
stairway  leads  to  a  broad  terrace  above  the  range  of  seats ; 
in  the  midst  of  these  stairs  the  head  of  a  huge  dragon  faces 
the  court,  holding  in  its  jaws  a  colossal  human  head.  To  the 
north  of  the  court  stood  two  magnificent  temples,  like  the 
work  of  giants.  The  interior  walls  were  covered  with  stucco, 
on  which  figures  and  scenes  were  painted;  the  horizontal 
arch  was  formed  by  overlapping  stones.  The  outside  was 
profusely  ornamented  with  grotesques  at  every  line." 

Further  on  Mr.  Gordon  describes  a  superb  stairway.  "In 
the  centre,  at  the  base,  is  a  throne  or  pedestal  rising  to  the 
fifth  step  and  projecting  eight  feet  in  front.  The  design 
upon  its  face  is  rich  in  sculpture,  made  up  in  part  of  hand- 
some faces,  masks,  death-heads,  and  scrolls,  disposed  with 
perfect  symmetry;  but  the  ensemble  is  unintelligible.  On 
the  face  of  each  step  of  the  stairway  is  a  row  of  hieroglyphics 
running  the  entire  length.  At  intervals  the  centre  is  occu- 


ONCE    UPON    A    TIME  33 

pied  by  a  human  figure  of  noble  appearance,  arrayed  in 
splendid  attire,  seated  on  the  steps.  On  each  side  was  a 
solid  balustrade  two  feet  thick,  of  curious  and  complicated 
design." 

Mr.  Gordon  found  tombs  in  strange  locations,  "beneath 
the  pavement  of  courtyards  and  under  the  floors  of  houses. 
They  consist  of  small  chambers  of  excellent  masonry;  in 
them  one  and  sometimes  two  interments  have  been  made. 
The  bodies  had  been  laid  at  full  length  on  the  floor ;  the  cere- 
ments had  mouldered  away  and  the  skeletons  were  in  a 
crumbling  condition.  One  fact  of  surpassing  interest  came 
to  light — the  custom  of  adorning  the  front  teeth  with  gems 
inlaid  with  enamel,  and  by  tilling.  The  stone  used  in  the 
inlaying  was  a  bright  green  jadeite.  A  circular  cavity  oiie- 
sixteenth  of  an  inch  in  diameter  was  drilled  in  the  enamel 
of  two  of  the  upper  front  teeth  and  inlaid  with  a  disk  of 
jadeite,  cut  to  a  perfect  fit,  and  secured  by  a  bright  red 
cement.  Each  tomb  also  contained  earthenware  vessels  of 
great  beauty  of  form  and  workmanship,  painted  with  figures 
or  glazed.  Some  contained  ashes,  others  beads,  ear-orna- 
ments and  other  objects,  usually  of  jadeite,  skilfully  polished 
and  cut;  and  pearls  and  trinkets  carved  from  shell,  which 
m  ust  have  been  obtained  by  trade  or  journeys  to  the  coast. 
There  were  also  stone  knives  and  flint  spear-heads,  hatchets 
and  chisels." 

As  to  the  date  when  Co-pan  was  an  inhabited  city,  Mr. 
Gordon  can  offer  no  suggestion.  It  was  in  ruins,  as  to-day, 
at  the  time  of  the  Spanish  invasion  four  hundred  years  ago, 
and  none  of  the  natives  could  give  any  account  of  the  people 
who  had  lived  in  it.  Nor  is  there  any  tradition  as  to  the 
means  or  cause  of  its  destruction.  Perhaps  the  occupants 
were  the  victims  of  some  fierce  war ;  perhaps  an  earthquake 
overthrew  their  palaces  and  destroyed  them.  At  present  we 
can  only  say  that  it  is  "a  nameless  city  with  an  unknown 
story.'* 

These  extracts  from  a  work  later  in  date  than  Professor 
Fiske's  "Discovery  of  America"  show  that  the  same  facts 


34  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

may  be  differently  interpreted.  If  these  ruins  be  those  of 
barbarians,  then  barbarians  are  civilized  enough  for  most 
practical  purposes.  Nevertheless,  leaving  Co-pan  aside,  it 
should  be  stated  that  the  ruined  city  of  Chichen-Itza,  which 
has  been  supposed  to  be  of  about  the  same  age  as  any  of 
these  mysterious  places,  is  declared,  in  a  document  written 
in  1562  by  a  native  of  that  time,  to  have  been  still  inhabited 
when  the  Spaniards  came  to  the  country.  Great  importance 
is  attached  to  this  chronicle  by  the  followers  of  Morgan  and 
Bandelier ;  but  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  it  can  be  de- 
pended upon.  Collateral  evidence  is  needed ;  and  meanwhile, 
the  mystery  is  a  mystery  still. 

We  now  come  round  again  to  the  question  as  to  the  true 
character  of  the  Mounds  which  are  scattered  all  over  north- 
ern America.  They  have  been  industriously  studied  by  many 
investigators,  and  several  theories  have  been  formed  and  aban- 
doned. At  one  time  the  builders  were  thought  to  have  been 
highly  civilized,  and  to  have  belonged  to  a  race  quite  distinct 
from  the  red  men.  Their  culture  has  been  asserted  to  have 
been  in  advance  of  our  own,  and  their  empire  to  have  ex- 
tended over  the  greater  part  of  the  continent.  But,  says 
Professor  Fiske,  with  sturdy  incredulity,  "the  sooner  the 
student  of  history  gets  his  head  cleared  of  such  rubbish, 
the  better.  As  for  the  mounds,  there  are  some  which  have 
been  built  by  Indians  since  the  arrival  of  white  men  in 
America,  and  which  contain  knives  and  trinkets  of  Euro- 
pean manufacture.  There  are  many  others  which  are  much 
older,  and  in  which  the  genuine  remains  sometimes  indicate 
a  culture  like  that  of  the  Shawnees  or  Senecas,  and  some- 
times suggest  something  perhaps  a  little  higher.  With  the 
progress  of  research  the  vast  and  vague  notions  of  a  distinct 
race  of  Mound-Builders  became  narrowed  and  defined.  It 
began  to  seem  probable  that  the  builders  of  the  more  remark- 
able mounds  were  tribes  of  Indians  who  had  advanced  beyond 
the  average  level  in  horticulture,  and  consequently  in  density 
of  population,  and  perhaps  in  priestly  and  political  organiza- 
tion. Such  a  conclusion  seemed  to  be  supported  by  the  size 


ONCE    UPON    A    TIME  35 

of  some  of  the  ancient  garden  beds,  often  covering  more  than 
a  hundred  acres,  filled  with  the  low  parallel  ridges  in  which 
corn  was  planted.     The  mound  people  were  thus  supposed  to 
be  semi-civilized  red  men,  like  the  Aztecs,  and  some  of  their 
elevated  earthworks  were  explained  as  places  for  human  sacri- 
fice, like  the  pyramids  of  Mexico  and  Central  America.     It 
was  thought  that  the  'civilization'   of  the  Cordilleran  peo- 
ples might  formerly  have  extended  northward  and  eastward 
into  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  might  after  a  while  have  been 
pushed  back  by  powerful  hordes  of  more  barbarous  invaders. 
A  further  reduction  and  modification  of  the  theory  likened 
the  mound- builders  to  the  pueblo  Indians  of  New  Mexico. 
Such  was  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Morgan,  who  offered  a  very 
ingenious  explanation  of  the  extensive  earthworks  at  High 
Bank,  in  Ross  County,  Ohio,  as  the  fortified  site  of  a  pueblo. 
Although  there  is  no  reason  for  supposing  that  the  mound- 
builders  practiced  irrigation  (which  would  not  be  required  in 
the  Mississippi  Valley)  or  used  adobe-brick,  yet  Mr.  Morgan 
was  inclined  to  admit  them  to  his  middle  status  of  barbarism 
because  of  the  copper  hatchets  and  chisels  found  in  some  of 
the  mounds,  and  because  of  the  superiority  in  horticulture 
and  the  increased  reliance  on  it.     He  suggested  that  a  peo- 
ple somewhat  like  the  Zunis  might  have  migrated  eastward 
and  modified  their  building  habits  to  suit  the  altered  condi- 
tions of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  where  they  dwelt  for  several 
centuries,  until  at  last,  for  some  unknown  reason,  they  re- 
tired to  the  Rocky  Mountain  region.     It  seems  to  me,"  says 
our  Professor,  "that  an  opinion  just  the  reverse  of  Mr.  Mor- 
gan's would  be  more  easily  defensible — namely,  that  the  an- 
cestors of  the  pueblo  Indians  were  a  people  of  building  habits 
somewhat  similar  to  the  Mandans,  and  that  their  habits  be- 
came modified  in  adaptation  to  a  country  which  demanded 
careful  irrigation  and  supplied  adobe  clay  in  abundance.     If 
ever  they  built  any  of  the  mounds  in  the  Mississippi  Valley, 
I  should  be  disposed  to  place  their  mound-building  period 
before  the  pueblo  period.     Recent  researches,  however,  make 
it  more  and  more  improbable  that  the  mound-builders  were 


36  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

nearly  akin  to  such  people  as  the  Zunis  or  similar  to  them 
in  grade  of  culture.  Of  late  years  the  exploration  of  the 
mounds  has  been  carried  on  with  increasing  diligence.  .  .  . 
The  net  results  of  all  this  investigation  have  been  concisely 
summed  up  by  Dr.  Cyrus  Thomas.  The  mounds  were  not 
all  built  by  one  people,  but  by  different  tribes  as  clearly  dis- 
tinguishable from  one  another  as  Algonquins  are  distinguish- 
able from  Iroquois.  These  mound-building  tribes  were  not 
superior  in  culture  to  the  Iroquois  and  many  of  the  Algon- 
quins as  first  seen  by  white  men.  They  are  not  to  be  classi- 
fied with  the  Zunis,  still  less  with  the  Mexicans  or  Mayas, 
in  point  of  culture,  but  with  Shawnees  and  Cherokees.  The 
Cherokees  were  probably  the  builders  of  the  mounds  of  east- 
ern Tennessee  and  western  North  Carolina.  They  retained 
their  mound-building  habits  some  time  after  the  white  men 
came  upon  the  scene.  On  the  other  hand,  the  mounds  and 
box-shaped  stone  graves  of  Kentucky,  Tennessee  and  north- 
ern Georgia  were  probably  the  work  of  Shawnees,  and  the 
stone  graves  in  the  Delaware  Valley  are  to  be  ascribed  to 
the  Lenape.  ...  If  this  view,  which  is  steadily  gaining 
ground,  be  correct,  our  imaginary  race  of  'Mound-Builders' 
is  broken  up  and  vanishes,  and  henceforth  we  may  content 
ourselves  with  speaking  of  the  authors  of  the  ancient  earth- 
works as  'Indians.'  There  were  times  in  the  career  of  sun- 
dry Indian  tribes  when  circumstances  induced  them  to  erect 
mounds  as  sites  for  communal  houses  or  council  houses,  medi- 
cine lodges  or  burial  places ;  somewhat  as  there  was  a  period 
in  the  history  of  our  own  forefathers  in  England  when  cir- 
cumstances led  them  to  build  moated  castles  with  draw- 
bridges and  portcullis;  and  there  is  no  more  occasion  for 
assuming  a  mysterious  race  of  'Mound-Builders'  in  America 
than  for  assuming  a  mysterious  race  of  'Castle-Builders'  in 
England." 

Thus  delivers  himself  the  scornful  and  even  vehement 
Professor.  But  we  may  observe  that  historians,  and  men 
of  science  generally,  are  apt  to  be  vehement  and  scornful 
just  in  proportion  as  they  find  themselves  on  an  insecure 


ONCE    UPON    A    TIME  37 

footing.  "We  have  just  as  much  right  to  reject  the  Pro- 
fessor's conclusions  as  to  accept  them.  He  does  not  get 
above  inference  and  conjecture.  And  when  he  likens  the 
communal-house  period  of  his  Indians  to  the  castle-building 
period  of  England,  he  gets  manifestly  off  the  track.  He 
does  not  need  to  be  told  that  the  Indians  are  the  most  con- 
servative and  unadaptable  of  beings,  whereas  a  people  in  the 
first  stages  of  civilization  are  just  the  reverse.  Nothing  is 
less  probable,  on  the  face  of  it,  than  that  the  builders  of  the 
mounds  ever  ceased  building  them,  so  long  as  they  them- 
selves continued  to  exist.  And  if  they  have  disappeared, 
who  were  they,  and  what  caused  their  disappearance?  The 
question  is  still  unanswered. 

"We  have  still  to  investigate  the  prehistoric  conditions  in 
Peru  and  other  parts  of  South  America;  but  before  doing 
this,  we  will  take  a  survey  of  the  situation  in  the  Old  World 
which  led  up  to  the  discovery  of  the  New ;  and  then  follow 
the  Spaniards  from  Central  America  southward.  We  emerge, 
consequently,  from  the  epoch  of  "Once  upon  a  time,"  and 
come  into  the  definite  light  of  accepted  history. 


38 


II 

THE   UNSUSPECTING  EAST 

BETWEEN  the  western  coasts  of  Europe  and  the  east- 
ern shores  of  America  intervene  but  some  two  or 
three  thousand  miles  at  most  of  salt  water;  and 
toward  the  north  the  approach  is  much  closer.  The  leap 
across  Bering  Straits  on  the  other  side  of  the  American  con- 
tinent is  to  be  spanned  in  a  day's  boating.  The  sea  is  an 
easy  path ;  do  but  spread  a  sail  and  fix  a  rudder,  and  go 
ahead :  you  cannot  help  arriving  ere  long.  Such  being  the 
case,  how  was  it  possible  that  Europe  could  avoid  discover- 
ing America  in  the  course  of  the  thousands  of  years  of  re- 
corded history?  How  could  those  millions  of  busy  and  active 
men  on  one  side  of  the  globe  remain  for  so  many  ages  unsus- 
picious of  the  existence  of  men  and  broad  lands  on  the  other 
side  of  it?  The  thing  seems  incredible. 

But  facts  are  facts;  and  this  fact  is  not  without  its  rea- 
sons. One  of  the  main  difficulties  in  the  way  of  our  compre- 
hension of  what  we  call  ancient  history,  is  that  of  bearing  in 
mind  the  extent  of  ancient  ignorance  of  certain  things,  which, 
to  us,  are  matters  of  such  familiar  knowledge  that  they  seem 
next  to  axiomatic.  We  move  so  easily  nowadays;  the  means 
of  universal  intercommunication  are  so  well  perfected;  our 
information  on  all  subjects  connected  with  the  earth  we  live 
on  is  so  comprehensive  and  accurate;  our  books  of  history 
and  geography  are  so  innumerable,  and  our  acquaintance 
with  their  contents  is  so  early  made,  that  we  scarce  can 
conceive  of  a  time  when  none  of  these  circumstances  existed. 
Such  a  time  there  was,  however,  and  compared  with  the  his- 
torical period  of  human  history — to  say  nothing  of  the  actual 
sojourn  of  our  race  on  this  planet — it  is  a  time  only  little  re- 
moved from  us.  Five  hundred  years  ago  the  mind  of  Europe 


ONCE    UPON    A   TIME  39 

was  a  total  blank  regarding  many  if  not  most  of  the  things 
which  our  children  now  learn  in  their  primary  schools.  What 
was  the  shape  of  the  earth,  and  what  its  motions?  Tell  us 
what  you  know  about  the  nature,  orbits,  distances  and  effects 
of  the  sun  and  moon,  and  other  bodies  in  our  solar  system. 
What  is  meant  by  the  term  gravitation?  Is  there  anything 
on  the  western  side  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean?  How  far  east 
does  Asia  extend?  How  far  south  can  you  sail  along  the 
west  coast  of  Africa?  How  far  north  may  you  penetrate 
beyond  Norway?  Assuming  the  earth  to  be  a  sphere  (which 
is  probably  absurd)  and  that  people  live  on  the  other  side  of 
it,  how  can  they  remain  attached  to  its  surface  with  their 
feet  above  them  and  their  heads  pointing  downward? — and 
how  could  a  mariner,  even  were  he  to  succeed  in  sailing 
down  the  awful  declivity  of  the  globe's  side,  hope  to  succeed 
in  climbing  his  way  up  again?  What  do  you  know  about  the 
bottomless  abysses  into  which  the  ocean  is  credibly  believed 
to  discharge  itself  beyond  the  horizon? — These,  and  a  vast 
number  of  similar  questions,  might  have  been  asked  of  men 
reputed  wise  in  the  fifteenth  century,  without  eliciting  replies 
which  contemporary  school  children  could  hear  without  un- 
seemly laughter.  One  of  the  best  informed  of  these  wise 
men,  Claudius  Ptolemy  by  name,  thought  he  knew  as  much 
as  would  ever  be  known  about  the  earth,  and  in  support  of  his 
claim  made  a  map  of  it  (about  150  A.D.)  which  was  the  stan- 
dard of  geographical  knowledge,  or  surmise,  until  the  time 
of  Columbus,  thirteen  hundred  years  later.  Ptolemy  plotted 
down  a  very  respectable  plan  of  Europe,  the  northern  parts 
of  Africa,  with  the  Red  Sea  and  Arabia,  and  by  dint  of 
combining  vague  reports  with  a  creative  imagination,  he 
sketched  out  a  not  entirely  discreditable  portrait  of  Russia 
and  Asia,  even  beyond  the  Ganges.  He,  however,  boldly 
amputated  the  great  peninsula  of  India,  which  has  since 
then  given  England  so  much  trouble  and  renown,  and  enor- 
mously exaggerated  the  size  and  importance  of  the  island  of 
Ceylon.  His  efforts  to  realize  China,  which  was  described 
in  doubtful  legends  as  Sinae  and  as  Seres  (the  former  title 


40  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

being  supposed  to  refer  to  the  Tchin  dynasty,  which  at 
Ptolemy's  period  governed  China),  were  not  very  success- 
ful; all  that  was  really  known  of  it  was  that  silks  came 
from  there.  But  Ptolemy  did  have  the  credit  of  regarding 
the  earth  as  spherical ;  a  view  which  was  not  indorsed  by 
his  geographical  successor,  four  or  five  hundred  years  after- 
ward, the  monk  Cosmas.  Cosmas  held  that  the  earth  was 
a  rectangle,  its  four  sides  being  enclosed  by  blue  walls,  sup- 
porting a  domed  roof  in  or  above  which  li ved  the  Creator  and 
his  angels.  The  parts  of  the  earth  which  were  inhabited  lay 
in  the  central  parts  of  the  level  floor,  with  the  ocean  flowing 
round  them,  and  separating  the  sons  of  sinful  Adam  from 
that  Paradise  whence  the  latter  had  been  banished  for  his 
sins.  Cosmas,  not  to  be  lacking  in  astronomical  furnishings, 
erected  a  tall  mountain  toward  the  north,  round  which  he 
made  the  sun  and  stars  revolve.  All  this  science  he  pro- 
fessed to  derive  from  intelligent  study  of  the  Holy  Script- 
ures; and  since  the  monkish  and  priestly  class  ruled  the 
mind  of  Europe  during  the  mediaeval  centuries,  it  was  but 
natural  that  Cosmas's  cosmos  was  currently  accepted  as  the 
correct  thing  for  many  generations  after  the  worthy  sage  had 
had  opportunity  to  correct  his  errors  by  personal  investi- 
gation. But  in  spite  of  his  flat-earth  theory,  Cosmas  did 
increase  human  knowledge  as  to  several  of  the  details  of 
the  terrestrial  floor;  he  improved  the  position  of  China,  and 
called  it  Chinistan,  and  spoke  of  the  "Brachmans"  of  India. 
But  in  the  seventh  century,  the  Saracens  had  their  day,  and 
interposed  a  barrier  between  the  extreme  east  and  Europe 
which  brought  Chinese  exploration  to  a  sudden  end.  All 
trade  with  the  Orient  was  passed  through  their  hands,  and 
up  to  the  tenth  century  Europe  was  hemmed  in  strictly, 
except  in  the  direction  of  Constantinople,  where  the  great 
commercial  empire  of  the  Byzantines  had  its  seat.  North- 
ern trade  routes  remained  open  through  this  magnificent 
city,  which,  in  the  twelfth  century,  was  the  headquarters 
of  civilization  and  of  Christendom.  It  was  not  until  the 
Turks,  a  savage  tribe  which  had  been  converted  to  Moham- 


THE  UNSUSPECTING  EAST  41 

medanism,  came  swarming  down  upon  the  scene,  that  this 
gorgeous  empire  fell. 

Meanwhile,  geography  made  no  advances.  Being  shut 
off  to  the  eastward,  whither  could  it  go?  Not  southward; 
for  no  one  seriously  believed  that  Africa  was  circumnaviga- 
ble;  and  though  ships  had  coasted  along  its  western  shores 
for  some  hundreds  of  miles,  the  existence  of  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope  was  not  suspected.  There  was  no  third  alterna- 
tive ;  for  who  could  imagine  that  the  East  might  be  reached 
by  sailing  west?  Only  stupendous  gulfs,  whirlpools,  dark- 
ness and  chimeras  dire  were  to  be  looked  for  in  that  direc- 
tion. The  Mare  Tenebrosum,  as  the  Atlantic  was  called, 
was  a  stormy  and  forbidding  barrier,  holding  out  no  prom- 
ises; and  Europe,  ardently  desiring  to  reach  the  Orient, 
stood  facing  it  with  arms  vainly  outstretched,  and  "with 
her  back  to  the  west,"  as  a  modern  writer  has  put  it,  until 
Columbus  made  his  seemingly  ridiculous  guess,  and  got  back- 
ing to  test  its  accuracy. 

And  yet,  there  is  little  doubt  that  America  was  discov- 
ered long  before  Columbus;  only,  it  was  discovered  without 
knowing  it,  and  involuntarily.  There  were  stories  to  the 
effect  that  the  Chinese  stumbled  upon  its  western  coasts, 
in  the  persons  of  certain  Buddhist  priests  who  crossed  via 
Kamchatka;  or  perhaps  Chinese  junks  strayed  to  California 
without  knowing  what  they  were  doing :  These  tales  belong 
to  the  fifth  century.  Later,  we  hear  of  -Irish  missionaries 
venturing  to  Iceland,  and  even  further,  also  in  complete 
ignorance  of  the  significance  of  their  exploit;  for  such  lands 
as  they  may  have  happened  upon  were  not  regarded  by  them 
as  a  new  western  continent,  but  merely  as  extreme  northern 
islands  lying  off  the  western  coasts  of  Europe.  Finally,  in 
the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries,  the  Norsemen,  who  had 
settled  Iceland,  sailed  or  drifted  to  lands  further  west  which 
they  called  Vinland,  because  they  found  the  vine  growing 
there;  they  built  a  sort  of  town  on  Greenland,  and  seem  to 
have  explored  as  far  south  as  Massachusetts.  But  all  was 
of  no  avail ;  nobody  heard  of  the  adventure  till  long  after- 


42  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

ward,  and  the  Norseman's  hold  upon  the  new  country  was 
not  confirmed.  The  Greenland  town  was  presently  aban- 
doned, and  the  Vinland  adventure  was  forgotten.  In  no 
just  sense  of  the  term  was  America  discovered.  In  fact, 
Columbus  himself  did  not  discover  it,  except  as  one  might 
say  that  a  traveller,  walking  toward  a  distant  light  through 
a  dark  night,  discovers  the  fence  over  which  he  inadvert- 
ently breaks  his  shins.  He  died  in  the  conviction  that  either 
America  was  Cathay,  or  else  a  string  of  outlying  islands  along 
the  Cathay  coast. 

"With  the  pre-Columbian  voyages,  at  all  events,  we  have 
nothing  to  do;  if  they  touched  the  continent  at  all,  it  was 
far  above  the  latitude  of  what  is  known  as  Spanish  America. 
Their  chief  significance  is  to  show  how  blind  men  can  be  un- 
til the  tune  arrives  for  their  eyes  to  be  opened.  A  jewel  of 
inestimable  value  is  thrust  into  their  very  hands ;  but  they 
are  looking  tor  or  thinking  of  something  else,  and  they  let 
it  drop.  Our  chief  excuse  for  referring  to  the  Norse  exploits 
here  is,  that  a  party  of  them  seems  to  have  penetrated  south 
to  a  place  which  it  is  not  impossible  to  conceive  may  have 
been  Mexico.  They  did  not  stay  there;  most  of  the  party 
were  killed,  and  the  stories  of  those  who  got  back  were  gen- 
erally discredited.  They  passed  into  oblivion,  until  the  dis- 
coveries of  much  later  times  caused  them  to  be  remembered 
and  overhauled.  It  is  all  shadowy;  what  degree  of  reality 
there  may  have  been  behind  the  shadow  we  shall  never 
know.  The  adventures  of  the  Venetian,  Zeno,  in  the  first 
years  of  the  fifteenth  century,  indicate  that  he  too  landed 
on  Greenland ;  but  his  story  was  laid  away  in  the  rubbish 
of  a  Venetian  attic  for  over  a  century,  and  was  only  rescued 
thence  by  a  descendant  of  his  after  Columbus  had  made  his 
voyage.  It  was  in  a  dilapidated  condition ;  and  the  pious 
grandson's  attempts  to  restore  the  missing  portions  resulted 
in  creating  much  confusion  as  to  what  the  elder  Zeno  act- 
ually did  accomplish.  His  "map"  is  better  calculated  to 
darken  counsel  than  to  enlighten  it. 

But  even  had  the  geographical  knowledge  of  the  pre- 


THE  UNSUSPECTING  EAST  43 

Columbian  times  sufficed  to  apprise  Europe  of  what  lay 
beyond  the  Atlantic,  she  was  too  busy  with  matters  near 
home  to  pay  any  heed  to  the  fact.  Europe  did  desire  more 
of  the  Orient  during  the  Dark  Ages;  but  she  would  have 
had  no  use  for  America,  had  that  country  been  introduced 
to  her.  Europe,  in  those  days,  was  a  scene  of  apparently 
hopeless  confusion.  The  belief  was  general  that  the  end 
of  the  world,  as  foretold  in  the  prophetical  writings  of  the 
Bible,  was  at  hand.  It  was  all  Europe  could  do  to  hold 
her  own  against  Saracens  and  other  wild  barbarian  hordes ; 
she  had  no  stomach  for  colonizing.  She  had  no  ships  to 
voyage  withal,  and  no  intellectual  curiosity  such  as  might 
result  in  the  undertaking  of  exploration.  Asia,  which  had 
always  been  regarded  as  hostile  to  the  west,  had  been  over- 
run to  some  extent  by  Alexander ;  but  since  then  it  had  been 
constantly  threatening  to  return  the  compliment.  When, 
at  last,  the  Moors  fastened  the  grip  on  Spain,  and  held  the 
Mediterranean  in  awe,  the  outlook  was  dark  indeed.  Never- 
theless, trade  never  entirely  ceased  between  Europe  and  the 
East.  And  as  the  twelfth  century  approached,  the  grand 
conception  of  the  Crusades  was  developed  by  the  Pope  of 
Rome ;  and  their  effect  was  in  all  respects  bracing  and  bene- 
ficial. They  compelled  the  eastern  hordes  to  halt  in  their 
advance  for  two  hundred  years ;  but  the  destruction  of  Con- 
stantinople in  1204  by  the  Fourth  Crusaders  was  an  inex- 
cusable playing  into  the  enemy's  hands.  Then  Venice  and 
Genoa  arose,  and  their  Oriental  trade  made  them  wealthy 
and  powerful.  This  prosperity  was  felt  throughout  Europe, 
and  there  was  a  revival  of  learning  and  culture,  which  was 
stimulated  rather  than  checked  by  the  career  of  Jenghis 
Khan  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  thirteenth  century ;  for  the 
Mongolians  invited  commerce  and  intercourse,  and  opened 
China  to  the  west  to  a  degree  hitherto  unknown.  Mission- 
aries and  travellers  visited  the  great  Khan,  and  brought  the 
news  that  the  world  did  not  end  with  Cathay,  as  Ptolemy 
had  supposed;  but  that  the  latters  "reedy  and  impenetrable 
swamps"  were  resolved  into  a  navigable  ocean.  Here  was 
—  3 


44  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

the  first  hint  which  could  be  of  use  to  the  coming  Columbus ; 
if  there  was  an  ocean  east  of  Cathay  and  west  of  Europe, 
why  might  not  the  two  be  one  and  the  same?  This  infer- 
ence was  not-,  indeed,  drawn  at  that  time;  but  it  was  liable 
to  be  seized  upon  by  some  one  when  the  right  moment  came. 
Philosophers  plight  canvass  it  in  their  studies;  but  it  had 
to  make  the  transit  from  philosophers  to  sailors;  and  that 
required  tune. 

Meanwhile,  Marco  Polo  was  to  make  his  journeys  and 
recite  his  adventures.  The  foundation  for  these  was  laid 
in  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  when  the  brothers 
Nocolo  and  Maffeo  Polo,  cultivated  Venetians,  wandered 
into  the  court  of  Kublai  Khan  and  won  his  favor.  They 
visited  him  again  some  years  later,  taking  with  them  No- 
colo's  son  Marco.  The  latter  entered  the  Khan's  service, 
and  made  many  journeys  in  lands  hitherto  unknown.  The 
three  Polos  did  not  get  home  for  four  and  twenty  years, 
when  they  turned  up  in  a  ragged  and  unpromising  condi- 
tion, to  the  outward  view,  and  found  themselves  forgotten 
by  their  friends ;  but  after  they  had  ripped  open  their  rags 
and  disclosed  jewels  of  fabulous  value,  they  became  objects 
of  profound  interest  and  high  honor,  and  lived  in  wealth 
and  credit  ever  after.  Marco  had  some  naval  adventures 
afterward,  which  resulted  in  his  captivity;  but  he  was  set 
free,  and  occupied  his  leisure  in  writing  his  book,  which  has 
since  then  been  much  criticised  by  unbelievers,  but  has  finally 
taken  its  place  as  a  remarkably  trustworthy  narrative.  The 
trouble  with  Marco  was,  that  he  knew  and  told  too  much ; 
the  culture  of  Europe  at  his  epoch  was  not  large  enough  to 
accommodate  his  information.  He  was  looked  upon  as  a 
yarn-spinner,  a  successor  of  Scheherezade.  It  was  where 
he  most  trusted  to  his  imagination  that  he  was  most  be- 
lieved; and  the  confirmation  which  he  gave  to  the  legends 
of  "Prester  John,"  the  alleged  great  Christian  potentate  of 
the  East,  was  one  of  his  chief  contemporary  titles  to  fame. 
Other  travellers  followed  him,  and  published  their  findings 
and  theories;  and  Sir  John  Mandeville,  whoever  he  may 


THE  UNSUSPECTING  EAST  45 

have  been,  perpetrated  his  ingenious  and  amusing  fraud 
upon  the  credulity  of  Europe.  But  in  1368  the  Chinese 
overthrew  the  Mongolian  dynasty,  and  with  that  came 
the  end  of  western  invasions  of  Cathay. 

Out  of  the  mass  of  strange  and  conflicting  testimony 
which  the  "open  season"  had  begotten,  one  fact  stood  out 
clear — that  the  eastern  shores  of  Asia  were  accessible  by  sea. 
Japan  also  loomed  upon  the  horizon,  and  other  islands  rich 
in  spices  and  costly  produce.  And  since  the  Chinese  barred 
the  overland  route  to  these  desirable  places,  Europe  natu- 
rally was  set  to  wondering  whether  a  sea-going  route  might 
not  be  practicable.  Between  the  wondering  and  the  at- 
tempting there  was  a  considerable  interval;  for  the  idea 
was  too  novel  to  be  digested  at  once.  But  it  was  an  age  of 
unbridled  license  of  imagination,  and  of  desperate  courage; 
the  mere  possibility  of  encountering  perils  never  till  now 
conceived  of,  was  allurement  enough  to  some  persons;  and 
in  addition  there  were  the  fabulous  rewards  which  success 
seemed  to  promise.  Let  us  picture  to  ourselves  our  own 
state  of  mind,  were  an  expedition  fitting  out  to  voyage  to 
Mars,  with  a  fighting  chance  of  getting  there.  There  is  no 
stronger  magnet  to  draw  men  than  that  of  the  Unknown. 
To  do  something — to  see  something — which  has  never  before 
been  done  or  seen — who  can  resist  that  seduction?  Even  to- 
day, our  young  adventurers  go  forth  to  die  on  the  ice  fields 
of  the  North  and  South  Poles,  or  in  the  mysterious  heart  of 
savage  Africa,  or  the  ghastly  plateaux  of  Thibet  and  Chinese 
Tartary,  and  the  world  follows  them  with  eyes  of  hope  and 
curiosity.  But  the  new  Columbus  will  have  problems  more 
difficult  than  these  to  solve;  as  difficult,  probably,  relatively 
to  our  vastly  superior  facilities,  as  those  which  the  Columbus 
of  1492  encountered  with  his  caravels  and  his  erroneous 
notions  as  to  the  true  locality  of  the  Indies. 

But  the  plan  of  sailing  west  could  not  be  considered  or 
proposed,  until  the  more  feasible  scheme  of  attempting  the 
circumnavigation  of  Africa  should  have  been  tried.  The 
possibility  of  this  had  been  asserted  by  some  writers  of  the 


46  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

old  Greek  and  Roman  times.  The  Atlantic  and  the  Indian 
Oceans  were  surmised  to  be  connected.  But  Ptolemy,  writ- 
ing later,  denied  this,  and  he  maintained  that  Africa  ex- 
tended southward  indefinitely.  Herodotus  had  a  story  of 
some  Phoenician  ships  which  had  in  three  years  sailed  down 
the  Red  Sea,  and  reappeared  at  the  Pillars  of  Hercules  of 
the  Mediterranean.  Herodotus  himself  disbelieved  the  yarn; 
but  it  seems  now  not  unlikely  that  it  was  true.  It  did  not 
recommend  itself  as  plausible  to  the  men  of  that  age,  and 
consequently  produced  little  or  no  effect  upon  men's  opin- 
ions or  theories.  On  the  other  hand,  there  have  been  many 
accounts  of  early  voyages  down  the  west  coast  of  Africa. 
Cadiz  and  Lisbon  were  founded  more  than  a  thousand  years 
before  Christ,  and  fishing  excursions  were  pushed  thence 
along  the  African  shore.  Hanno,  the  Carthaginian,  about 
five  hundred  years  before  Christ,  sailed  as  far  south  as  Sierra 
Leone.  One  philosophical  mariner  by  the  name  of  Eudoxus 
picked  up  some  fragments  of  a  vessel  on  the  east  African 
coast,  and  noted  down  some  words  spoken  there  by  the  na- 
tives; and  later,  on  the  west  coast,  he  heard  similar  words 
pronounced  by  the  local  tribes  there.  Hence  he  drew  the 
inference  that  Africa  was  circumnavigable.  This  was  less 
than  a  hundred  years  before  our  era.  Whether  he  proved 
his  theory  by  himself  performing  the  voyage,  is  uncertain. 
A  map  of  the  world  made  at  about  this  time  shows  Africa 
as  an  irregular  triangle  extending  not  further  south  than 
about  the  tenth  degree  of  north  latitude,  and  with  a  huge, 
sausage-shaped  continent  or  overgrown  island  lying  along 
below  it,  reaching  from  the  western  boundary  of  Africa  to 
the  extreme  eastern  promontory  of  Asia;  to  which  purely 
imaginary  region  is  given  the  name  of  Antichthone.  The 
advantage  of  this  map  was,  that  it  could  do  no  harm,  like 
that  of  Ptolemy,  by  making  men  believe  that  Asia  could 
not  be  reached  by  water.  The  land  of  the  Antichthones  did 
not  bar  the  way;  it  only  prevented  mariners  from  being 
blown  into  transcendental  regions  still  further  south.  This 
huge,  ambiguous  Antichthone  (Anti-Earth)  made  a  deep 


THE    UNSUSPECTING  EAST  47 

impression  on  thinkers  and  navigators,  and  they  were  com- 
ing upon  traces  of  it  in  the  most  unlikely  places ;  now  it  was 
Ceylon,  and  anon,  at  the  time  of  the  Vespuccian  voyages,  it 
might  be  South  America.     The  map  was  plastic,  and  accom- 
modated itself  without  remonstrance  to  the  most  irreconcila- 
ble notions.     Meanwhile  an  apprehension  prevailed  in  some 
quarters  that  the  equator  could  not  be  passed  without  peril 
of  being  consumed  by  fire.     One  writer  declared  that  the 
last  safe  point  southward  was  just  below  the  Tropic  of  Can- 
cer.    Again,  the  idea  that  ships  going  too  far  south  would 
be  sailing  down  hill,  and  could  never  make  their  way  up 
again,  added  to  the  dangers  of  the  route.     This  theory  as- 
sumed that  the  earth  was   a  cone,   standing  on  its  base, 
which,    in    turn,   might    stand    on    anything    one   pleased; 
but,   at  all  events,   no  prudent  person  would   venture  too 
far  in  that  direction.     Besides,   the  vessels  of   those  days 
afforded  no  reasonable  security   to  the   sailor;    they  were 
crazy  little  cockleshells,  in    which  one  would  be  chary  of 
crossing  an  inland  sound  to-day.     They  could  not  hold  food 
enough  for  a  prolonged  voyage  out  of  sight  of  land.     And 
until  the  twelfth  century  after  Christ,  the  compass  was  not 
known  to  European  sailors;  it  was  communicated  to  them 
from  China,  by  way  of  Arabia.     It  was  in  the  middle  of 
the  thirteenth  century  that  Roger  Bacon  showed  a  visitor  a 
needle  suspended  horizontally,  which  always  pointed  toward 
the  north  star,  having  been  first  rubbed  against  a  certain 
black  stone.     But  as  this  was  thought  to  be  black  magic, 
sailors  were  shy  of  employing  it,  lest  bad  spirits  lead  them 
astray.     But  these  prejudices  had  mostly  been  surmounted 
before  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century;  and  some 
progress  had  also  been  made  toward  calculating  latitude. 
Longitude  was  not  so  readily  determined,  and  the  device 
was  employed  of  first  sailing  to  the  parallel  of  the  place  of 
destination,  and  then  proceeding  straight  toward  it  by  dead 
reckoning.     But  dead  reckoning  is  of  course  an  uncertain 
quantity,  and  great  errors  were  often  made. 

When,  early  in  the  fourteenth  century,  the  time  came 


48  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

for  a  serious  attempt  to  reach  Asia  by  water,  the  man  to 
attempt  it  appeared  in  the  person  of  a  prince  of  Portugal, 
by  the  name  of  Henry,  surnamed  the  Navigator.  He  was 
the  son  of  John  I.  of  Portugal,  was  born  in  1394,  and  flour- 
ished during  the  golden  age  of  his  country.  After  some 
youthful  experience  in  fighting  the  Moors,  during  which 
he  gathered  some  useful  geographical  data,  which  led  him 
to  think  that  he  could  get  round  Africa,  enter  the  Indies  in 
the  rear  of  the  Moslem,  and  not  only  bring  therefrom  treas- 
ures of  earth  to  enrich  his  country,  but  also  win  to  the  Chris- 
tian fold  the  innumerable  heathen  who  were  now  struggling 
in  the  darkness  of  paganism.  For  the  proselytizing  spirit 
was  rampant  in  those  days,  and  Europeans  had  persuaded 
themselves  that  the  motive  of  Christianizing  populations 
outside  the  realm  of  the  Church  would  excuse  any  meth- 
ods which  might  be  employed,  to  effect  that  object.  "For 
Christ  and  Portugal,"  or  "For  Christ  and  Spain,"  were 
battle  cries  which  stimulated  adventurers  quite  as  much 
(in  some  cases)  as  the  prospect  of  gold.  Spiritual  pride 
and  aggrandizement  were  potent  factors  in  the  history  of 
the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries ;  and  men's  consciences 
permitted  wholesale  slaughter  of  infidels,  on  the  plea  that 
it  was  better  for  them  to  die  at  once  than  to  go  on  piling  up 
iniquity  by  continuing  to  live  unrepentant.  A  murderer  was 
able  to  regard  himself  as  an  apostle,  and  if  his  operations 
were  only  sweeping  enough,  he  might  confidently  look  for- 
ward to  being  canonized  by  a  grateful  Church  after  his 
death.  Prince  Henry,  who  was  really  an  enlightened  and 
worthy  man,  was  consequently  full  of  energy  and  enthusi- 
asm in  his  project,  and  set  to  work  forthwith  to  equip 
himself  for  the  adventure. 

He  retired  from  the  splendors  of  the  Lisbon  court,  and 
applied  himself  to  grave  studies  in  the  retreat  on  the  prom- 
ontory of  Sagres,  in  the  south  of  Portugal:  a  place  which 
had  been  regarded  by  Classical  writers  as  the  limit  in  that 
direction  of  the  habitable  globe.  He  erected  an  astronomical 
observatory  there,  extended  the  hospitalities  of  the  place  to 


THE  UNSUSPECTING  EAST  49 

all  the  wise  men  he  knew,  and  there  did  he  remain,  faithful 
to  his  purpose,  for  the  better  part  of  his  life ;  sending  forth 
thence  expedition  after  expedition  to  search  for  the  promised 
land.  He  had  all  the  money  he  wanted ;  and  though,  for  a 
while,  the  world  looked  with  some  doubt  upon  his  efforts,  he 
finally  began  to  show  results  which  brought  his  critics  round 
to  the  position  of  advocates. 

After  rediscovering  the  Madeiras,  he  aimed  at  Cape 
Bajador,  a  stormy  spot,  which  had  hitherto  baffled  ex- 
plorers; but  in  1435  Captain  Gil  Eannes  succeeded  in  get- 
ting past  it,  and  pushing  a  couple  of  hundred  miles  beyond. 
The  Cape  is  a  few  degrees  south  of  the  Canaries,  and  its 
conquest  still  left  a  terrible  extent  of  coast  to  be  overcome ; 
but  the  mariners  had  the  advantage  of  not  knowing  how 
large  a  job  confronted  them.  Eannes's  exploit  was  the  rec- 
ord for  some  seven  years;  after  which  Antonio  Gongalves 
went  two  hundred  miles  further,  and  brought  back  gold  and 
slaves.  Here,  then,  was  the  beginning  of  the  modern  slave- 
trade  ;  for  Prince  Henry  was  far  from  regarding  the  enslav- 
ing of  benighted  blacks  as  a  crime;  on  the  contrary,  how 
could  the  cause  of  Christ  be  better  advanced  than  by  bring- 
ing these  poor  creatures  into  contact  with  Christian  masters? 
And  not  only  did  Prince  Henry  take  this  view,  but  the  Pope 
of  Rome,  and  his  successors,  granted  to  the  Prince  all 
heathen  lands  discovered  beyond  Bajador  Cape.  In  those 
generous  times,  people  got  the  earth  for  little  more  than  the 
asking,  if  giving  it  on  the  part  of  those  who  did  not  own 
it  was  any  guarantee  of  possession.  But  Prince  Henry  de- 
serves all  the  credit  that  has  been  conceded  to  him.  He 
sent  out  many  able  seamen,  and  they  brought  back  good 
measure.  Nevertheless,  at  the  time  of  his  death  at  a  good 
age,  in  1463,  he  had  not  succeeded  in  getting  further  than 
had  the  old  Carthaginian  Hanno  centuries  before.  But  the 
work  had  received  an  impetus  which  led  to  its  prosecution 
long  after  the  Prince  had  gone  to  his  reward.  The  Congo 
was  reached  in  1484,  and  the  Hottentots  were  discovered 
the  year  after.  As  they  were  far  south  of  the  equator,  the 


50  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

theory  of  a  fiery  zone  was  exploded.  But  it  also  proved  that 
Africa  was  alarmingly  large,  and  fears  were  entertained 
that  it  might,  after  all,  turn  out  to  have  no  end  at  all.  And 
if  this  were  so,  either  the  Indies  must  be  given  up,  or  some 
third  way  of  reaching  them  must  be  discovered.  And  what 
could  this  third  way  be,  unless  it  were  the  route  across  the 
Atlantic? 

About  1471,  news  came  to  Portugal  of  a  potentate  far 
east  of  Benin,  whose  badge  was  a  brazen  cross.  This,  it 
was  inferred,  might  be  the  famous  Prester  John,  whom 
we  last  heard  of  from  Marco  Polo.  Hereupon  the  king  of 
Portugal  sent  out  two  expeditions  in  opposite  directions,  one 
west,  the  other  east ;  Covilham  commanding  the  latter  and 
Bartholomew  Dias  the  former.  Covilham,  after  visiting 
Hindustan,  returned  by  way  of  Abyssinia — or,  rather,  he 
stopped  there,  and  never  got  any  further,  but  dwelt  there 
thirty  years,  and  sent  home  news  now  and  then  concerning 
eastern  Africa.  Dias,  meanwhile,  actually  passed  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope  without  being  aware  of  it ;  but  made  land,  at 
last,  two  hundred  miles  up  the  east  coast,  north  of  it.  But 
at  this  stage  of  the  enterprise  he  was  obliged  by  the  condi- 
tion of  his  crew  to  turn  back;  and  there  still  remained  a 
doubt  whether  Africa  had  really  been  sailed  round  or  not. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  geographical  theories  were  overturned; 
and  since,  among  Dias's  men,  there  happened  to  be  a  brother 
of  Christopher  Columbus,  Bartholomew  by  name,  we  see  that 
the  way  was  opened  for  the  discoverer  of  America  to  develop 
his  mighty  scheme.  Christopher,  in  fact,  had  already  been 
trying  to  enlist  support  for  this  scheme ;  and  now  his  brother 
went  to  England  to  talk  over  Henry  VII.  into  backing  it. 
That  monarch  thought  there  might  be  something  in  it,  but 
delayed  about  investing  money  on  so  debatable  a  contin- 
gency; and  before  he  had  made  up  his  mind,  events  had 
taken  the  matter  out  of  his  hands,  and  given  the  glory  and 
the  empire  not  to  England,  but  to  Spain.  Henry  VII.  had 
leisure  for  repentance.  What  a  different  place  the  New 
World  would  have  been,  had  Englishmen  been  the  first  to 


THE  UNSUSPECTING  EAST  51 

land  in  the  West  Indies!  It  has  taken  four  centuries  to 
finally  oust  Spain  from  the  lands  she  cursed  with  her  pres- 
ence; and  yet  many  years  must  pass  before  her  former 
colonies  are  made  safe  and  agreeable  for  civilized  occu- 
pation. 

Columbus  is  so  inevitable  a  figure  in  any  account  of  the 
Americas  that  it  is  impossible  to  avoid  giving  him  a  some- 
what formal  introduction,  as  he  steps  on  the  stage.  He  has 
had  biographers  without  end,  nearly  all  of  whom  have  also 
been  eulogists ;  for  his  misfortunes  were  for  the  most  part 
confined  to  his  own  lifetime,  before  his  biographies  began. 
And  yet  the  facts  of  his  life,  and  the  true  lines  of  his  char- 
acter have  never,  perhaps,  been  fully  given;  though  the 
opinions  concerning  these  points  are  not  as  diverse  and  ir- 
reconcilable as  his  actual  portraits  are,  they  are  wide  enough 
apart  to  afford  us  liberty  to  erect  whatever  type  of  figure 
best  suits  our  private  predilection.  Among  those  who  wrote 
of  him  with  knowledge  at  first  hand  were  his  friend  Las 
Casas,  himself  an  admirable  character;  and  his  son  Ferdi- 
nand, who  was  also  a  commendable  and  certainly  a  pious 
personage.  Better  authorities  could  not  be  asked;  but  the 
trouble  is  that  they  are  chiefly  concerned  to  describe  their 
subject  after  he  became  famous;  whereas  we  are  anxious 
to  learn  what  he  was  like  previous  to  that  period,  and,  as  it 
were,  unofficially.  The  figure  of  Columbus  detaches  itself 
from  an  obscure  and  doubtful  background,  at  a  period  of 
life  comparatively  late;  he  advances  with  abruptness  into 
the  most  dazzling  light  of  history ;  and  then  is  eclipsed  for- 
ever by  shadows  of  mishap,  neglect,  and  soon  of  death.  Now, 
a  man  is  hardly  ever  his  natural  self  when  he  is  the  most  con- 
spicuous person  of  his  day ;  and  we  are  not  satisfied  that  the 
Columbus  who  handed  over  a  new  Continent  to  the  Spanish 
king  and  queen  shows  quite  the  same  traits  as  he  who  had 
fought  his  way  through  the  world  during  the  previous  forty 
or  fifty  years.  At  all  events,  we  could  see  him  more  clearly 
in  his  greatness,  had  we  been  intimate  with  him  in  his  ob- 
scurity.— But  we  must  make  the  best  of  what  we  can  get. 


52  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

"There  is  scarcely  a  date  or  a  fact  relating  to  Columbus  be- 
fore 1492,"  remarks  Professor  Fiske,  who  shall  be  our  guide 
through  this  wilderness,  "but  has  been  made  the  subject 
of  hot  dispute;  and  some  pretty  wholesale  reconstructions  of 
his  biography  have  been  attempted." 

Whether  the  discoverer  was  born  in  1436  or  ten  years  later 
is  undetermined.  All  evidence  is  of  an  inferential  character. 
The  more  plausible  conclusion  is  for  the  earlier  date.  The 
place  in  which  he  was  born  was  either  Genoa  itself,  or  some 
village  within  the  boundaries  of  the  Genoese  Republic.  His 
family  followed  the  trade  of  weavers.  His  father,  Domenico, 
had  three  other  sons,  younger  than  Christopher,  and  one 
daughter;  Giovanni,  the  second  son,  died  young;  Bartholo- 
mew, the  third,  was  associated  with  Christopher  in  his  ca- 
reer. The  latter  and  Christopher  early  removed  to  Portugal. 
All  the  family  were  poor,  and  the  father  died,  at  a  great  age, 
in  debt,  seven  or  eight  years  after  his  famous  son's  discovery 
of  what  was  supposed  to  be  "the  Indies." 

Christopher's  childhood  is  a  closed  book  to  investigators ; 
and  the  first  we  know  of  him  is  that  he  studied  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pavia,  and,  like  Shakespeare,  got  some  Latin.  He 
also  obtained  some  notions  of  geography,  astronomy  and 
draughtsmanship.  He  sailed  and  fought  the  Moors  before 
his  twenties,  turning  up  in  Genoa  between  whiles;  and  he 
acquired  some  repute  as  a  good  map-maker.  He  took  part 
in  one  or  more  of  Prince  Henry's  expeditions  down  the  Afri- 
can coast;  and  in  1473  he  married  a  pretty  girl,  above  him 
in  station,  the  daughter  of  Governor  Perestrelo  of  Porto 
Santo.  Columbus  at  this  time  was  a  young  man  of  strik- 
ing aspect,  tall,  powerful  and  dignified,  with  hair  prema- 
turely white,  and  sharp  blue  eyes.  In  fact,  if  we  are  to 
believe  all  we  hear,  he  was  a  natural  prince,  to  look  at, 
"with  that  divine  spark  of  religious  enthusiasm  which  makes 
true  genius." 

He  and  his  wife  went  to  live  on  the  island  of  Porto  Santo, 
which  is  three  hundred  miles  oft  the  coast ;  and  there  he  may 
have  found  leisure  to  think  over  his  dreams  of  discovery. 


THE  UNSUSPECTING  EAST  53 

But  about  a  year  after  his  marriage,  he  sent  an  inquiry  to 
the  famous  astronomer  Toscanelli,  asking  his  opinion  as  to 
the  feasibility  of  getting  to  the  Spice  Islands  by  sea,  and  the 
astronomer,  who  was  a  genial  and  open-hearted  as  well  as 
learned  man,  wrote  him  an  answer,  containing  a  copy  of 
another  letter  which  he  had  shortly  before  written  to  King 
Alfonso  of  Portugal  on  the  same  subject.  In  this  letter  he 
says:  "I  have  formerly  spoken  of  a  shorter  route  to  the 
places  of  Spices  than  you  are  pursuing  by  Guinea.  Al- 
though I  am  well  aware  that  this  can  be  proved  from  the 
spherical  shape  of  the  earth,  in  order  to  make  the  point 
clearer  I  have  decided  to  exhibit  that  route  by  means  of  a 
sailing  chart,  made  by  my  own  hands,  upon  which  are  laid 
down  your  coasts,  and  the  islands  from  which  you  must  be- 
gin to  shape  your  course  steadily  westward,  and  the  places 
at  which  you  are  bound  to  arrive,  and  how  far  from  the  pole 
or  equator  you  ought  to  keep  away ;  and  through  how  many 
miles  you  are  to  arrive  at  the  places  most  fertile  in  spices  and 
gems;  and  do  not  wonder  at  my  calling  west  the  parts  where 
spices  are,  whereas  they  are  commonly  called  east,  because 
to  persons  persistently  sailing  westward,  these  parts  will  be 
found  on  the  under  side  of  the  earth.  I  have  drawn  upon 
the  map  various  places  upon  which  you  may  come,  in  order 
that  the  navigators  may  be  able  to  show  the  inhabitants  that 
they  have  some  knowledge  of  their  country,  which  is  surely 
a  pleasant  thing." — Here  follows  a  description  of  the  places 
in  question,  derived  from  Marco  Polo,  and  then  the  writer 
concludes,  addressing  Columbus,  as  follows:  "From  the  city 
of  Lisbon  as  far  as  the  very  great  and  splendid  city  of  Quin- 
say"  (Pekin)  "are  twenty-six  spaces  marked  on  the  map,  each 
of  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  This  space  is  about  a  third 
part  of  the  whole  sphere.  But  from  the  island  of  Antilia, 
which  you  know,  to  the  very  splendid  island  of  Cipango" 
(Japan)  "there  are  ten  spaces.  So  through  the  unknown 
parts  of  the  route  the  stretches  of  sea  are  not  great.  Many 
things  might  have  been  stated  more  clearly,  but  one  who 
duly  considers  what  I  have  said  will  be  able  to  work  out  the 


54  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH   AMERICA 

rest  for  himself .  Farewell,  most  esteemed  one.**  And  the 
map  is  enclosed. 

Columbus  replied  again,  drawing  another  letter  from  the 
ardent  old  gentleman,  who  now  congratulated  him  on  hav- 
ing undertaken  the  great  enterprise,  "fraught  with  honor  as 
it  must  be,  and  inestimable  gain,  and  most  lofty  fame  among 
all  Christian  peoples.  It  will  be  a  voyage  to  powerful  king- 
doms, and  to  cities  and  provinces  most  wealthy  and  noble; 
it  will  also  be  advantageous  to  those  kings  and  princes  who 
are  eager  to  have  dealings  and  make  alliances  with  the  Chris- 
tians of  other  countries.  For  these  and  many  other  reasons 
I  do  not  wonder  that  you,  who  are  of  great  courage,  and  the 
whole  Portuguese  nation,  which  has  always  had  men  distin- 
guished in  such  enterprises,  are  now  inflamed  with  a  desire 
to  execute  the  said  voyage." 

Poor  old  Toscanelli  would  have  had  to  wait  eighteen  years 
to  see  his  hopes  verified,  even  to  the  extent  and  in  the  man- 
ner they  were ;  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  died  eight  years 
before  Columbus's  voyage.  The  question  of  interest  is,  did 
he,  or  did  Columbus,  first  conceive  the  grand  idea  of  sailing 
westward  to  the  East?  "We  may  suppose  that  Columbus  sug- 
gested it  to  Alfonso,  and  that  the  latter,  knowing  of  Tosca- 
nelli's  eminence  in  science,  had  written  asking  him  his  views 
upon  it ;  or  we  may  suppose  that  the  astronomer  himself  origi- 
nated it.  The  reasonable  probability  is  that  Toscanelli  de- 
serves the  credit,  and  the  lustre  with  which  we  are  anxious 
to  invest  Columbus  must  be  in  so  far  dimmed.  Be  that  as 
it  may,  he  cannot  be  deprived  of  the  honor  of  having  per- 
sonally put  the  idea  to  the  proof.  Aristotle  had  said  in  the 
early  ages  that  "those  who  connect  the  region  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  Pillars  of  Hercules  with  that  toward  India, 
and  assert  that  in  this  way  the  sea  is  one,  do  not  assert  things 
very  improbable."  Aristotle,  then,  might  have  discovered 
America ;  but  he  did  not  do  so.  Seneca,  too,  prophesied  that 
Ocean  would  loose  the  bonds  by  which  we  have  been  confined, 
when  an  immense  land  shall  be  revealed,  and  Thule  will  no 
longer  be  most  remote  of  countries.  And  many  similar  hints 


THE  UNSUSPECTING  EAST  55 

are  to  be  found  in  the  writings  of  antiquity;  but  still  Colum- 
bus was  the  one  man  who  finally  did  what  the  others  had  so 
long  been  talking  about. 

But  the  distance  from  Lisbon  to  Cathay  is  some  twelve 
or  thirteen  thousand  miles,  including  the  trip  across  the  Isth- 
mus of  Panama ;  and  had  Columbus  suspected  this  fact,  he 
would  never  have  embarked  upon  the  voyage,  for  no  ships 
then  built  could  have  accomplished  it.  But  he  was  encour- 
aged by  several  valuable  pieces  of  ignorance.  In  the  first 
place,  he  supposed  the  circumference  of  the  globe  to  be  about 
twenty  thousand  miles ;  and  then  he  calculated  that  Asia  ex- 
tended east  some  thousands  of  miles  further  than  is  really 
the  case.  Upon  the  whole,  he  estimated  that  he  would  have 
little  more  than  two  thousand  five  hundred  miles  to  go  before 
reaching  port;  besides  which,  there  was  Toscanelli's  island 
of  Antilia  (wholly  imaginary)  to  serve  as  a  half-way  house  on 
the  route.  By  all  parties  concerned,  the  continent  of  America 
was  quietly  wiped  off  the  planet;  it  had  kept  its  secret  well  for 
a  million  years  more  or  less ;  and  whether  or  not  stray  cast- 
aways had  ever  landed  upon  its  shores,  they  had  not  known 
what  they  were  doing;  and  the  aboriginal  Americans,  un- 
like us,  their  modern  representatives,  had  never  evinced  the 
slightest  curiosity  as  to  what  might  lie  east  or  west  of  them, 
or  had  fitted  out  any  expeditions  to  investigate.  Certainly 
Columbus  is  not  to  be  blamed  for  never  having  suspected  the 
existence  of  that  world  which  it  is  his  title  to  fame  to  have 
discovered ;  but  there  is  undeniably  something  comic  in  the 
situation.  The  proverb  says  that  the  world  knows  nothing 
of  its  greatest  men ;  and  it  appears,  likewise,  that  it  was 
able  to  get  along  for  many  ages  without  knowing  anything 
of  what  we  must  maintain  to  be  its  greatest  country.  And 
when,  at  last,  it  stretched  out  its  hands  in  the  dark,  intend- 
ing to  grasp  its  own  back  parts,  the  thing  with  which  its 
fingers  really  came  in  contact,  which  it  assumed  to  be  this 
portion  of  itself,  ultimately  turned  out  to  be  a  perfect 
stranger,  to  whom  nobody  had  been  introduced. 

Wars  prevented  anything  being  done  in  Columbus's  line 


56  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

between  1474  and  1480.  He  wrote  a  book,  which  has  been 
lost,  and  made  several  voyages,  the  details  of  which  are 
lacking.  But  he  seems  to  have  visited  England,  and  per- 
haps Iceland.  If  he  went  to  Iceland,  why  did  he  not  learn 
there  that  America  had  been  found  four  centuries  before? 
As  has  already  been  intimated,  he  might  have  heard  about 
Greenland  and  Vinland,  and  yet  have  inferred  nothing  as  to 
the  existence  of  a  continent  over  yonder,  or  have  reasoned 
that  the  outlying  places  in  question  had  any  connection  with 
his  "Indies."  Moreover,  if  he  had  so  inferred  or  reasoned, 
of  course  he  would  have  made  this  his  staple  argument  when 
urging  the  kings  of  Europe  to  fit  him  out  for  the  voyage.  As 
to  the  objection  that  he  might  have  wanted  to  keep  the  credit 
of  discovering  America  for  himself,  it  falls  to  the  ground  when 
we  remember  that  he  never  was  aware  from  first  to  last  that 
there  was  any  America  to  be  discovered.  So  far  from  wish- 
ing to  conceal  the  legend  of  Vinland,  Columbus  would  have 
given  nearly  anything  to  have  had  it  at  his  command.  The 
argumentum  ad  Vinland  would  have  outweighed,  in  the 
minds  of  dubious  kings  with  money  in  their  pockets,  all 
the  ingenious  theories  extant.  And  that  he  did  not  use  that 
argument  is  nearly  proof  positive  that  he  did  not  have  it  to 
use.  And  that  the  Scandinavians  themselves  failed  to  con- 
nect the  discoveries  of  Columbus  with  their  own  antiquated 
exploits  is  sufficiently  established  by  the  fact  that,  from  be- 
ginning to  end,  they  never  made  any  such  claim.  No: 
Columbus  owed  nothing  to  the  Norsemen. 

There  was  the  need  of  a  route  shorter  than  that  round 
Africa,  and  more  practicable  than  the  overland  one;  and, 
as  usually  happens,  with  the  need  came  the  man  to  fulfil 
it.  But  even  then  the  junto  of  cosmographers  rejected  the 
scheme  as  visionary,  and  though  the  king  of  Portugal  had 
a  hankering  to  try  conclusions  with  the  vision,  material  ob- 
stacles intervened  and  held  him  back.  Besides,  Columbus 
demanded  great  rewards;  not  only  a  good  fitting-out,  but 
all  manner  of  contingent  recompense  in  the  way  of  domin- 
ions and  governorships.  King  John,  one  regrets  to  record, 


THE   UNSUSPECTING  EAST  57 

tried  to  betray  his  ambitious  suitor  by  secretly  sending  a 
little  ship  of  his  own  to  try  the  experiment;  but  the  sailors 
were  appalled  by  the  sight  of  the  boundless  Atlantic,  and 
turned  back  without  having  tempted  its  waves.  Columbus, 
upon  hearing  of  this  trick,  took  offence,  and  departed  to  Cas- 
tile, to  try  the  scheme  on  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  and  perhaps 
on  the  rulers  of  Genoa  likewise.  But  he  met  with  nothing 
but  ridicule — he  had  by  this  time  deserted  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren, and  the  former  had  died — and  up  to  1487  all  went  con- 
trary with  him.  To  console  himself  he  "made  a  connection" 
with  a  Spanish  lady  of  noble  birth,  and  had  a  son  by  her,  the 
same  Ferdinand  who  was  later  his  biographer.  Meeting  Bar- 
tholomew on  the  latter's  return  from  his  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
voyage,  he  joined  him  in  trying  to  interest  England  and 
France  in  his  project;  but -in  1489  he  was  in  Cordova,  with 
nothing  accomplished.  By  this  time,  Isabella  was  begin- 
ning to  take  some  interest  in  the  matter;  but  the  siege  of 
Granada,  in  1491,  again  deferred  Columbus's  hopes.  He 
was  wellnigh  in  despair,  not  foreseeing  how  close  he  was  to 
the  fruition  of  his  hopes. 

Setting  out  for  Huelva,  he  stQpped  by  the  way  at  the 
monastery  of  La  Rabida  near  Palos.  Here  a  conversation 
sprung  up  between  himself  and  the  prior,  and  the  cosmog- 
rapher  Garcia  Fernandez,  and  the  mariner  Pinzon.  Pinzon 
was  captivated,  and  wanted  to  go  on  the  voyage  himself. 
The  prior  wrote  to  Isabella,  who  summoned  him  to  Granada, 
whence  he  returned  with  about  two  thousand  dollars,  which 
Columbus  expended  on  new  clothes,  and  started  for  the  camp. 
The  issue  of  his  conference  there  with  the  queen  was  a  prom- 
ise on  her  part  to  take  up  the  matter  as  soon  as  Granada  had 
surrendered.  This  event  took  place  in  the  following  Janu- 
ary ;  but  now  once  more  he  nearly  wrecked  his  chances  by 
insisting  upon  what  the  queen  regarded  as  extravagant  emol- 
uments. The  man,  in  fact,  had  become  a  sort  of  semi-relig- 
ious fanatic ;  nothing  could  be  done  with  him ;  it  was  take 
or  leave.  Negotiations  were  broken  off  and  Columbus  set 
out  once  more  for  France ;  but  before  he  had  gone  six  miles 


58  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

the  queen  relented,  sent  a  messenger  after  him,  and  an  agree- 
ment was  at  last  drawn  up  in  accordance  with  his  ideas.  It 
was  signed  on  April  17,  1492,  and  Columbus,  who  already 
had  ulterior  views,  vowed  to  devote  all  the  proceeds  of  the 
adventure  to  the  rescue  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 

Some  difficulties  were  encountered  in  getting  crews  for 
the  caravels;  and  it  was  necessary  to  pardon  a  number  of 
malefactors,  in  order  to  fill  out  the  quota;  but  at  length 
the  three  ships — the  "Santa  Maria,"  the  "Pinta,"  and  the 
"Nina" — were  made  fit  and  ready,  and  with  crews  aggre- 
gating ninety  all  told,  they  set  sail  from  Palos  on  the  3d  of 
August,  1492.  They  stood  for  the  Canaries. 

Columbus  sailed  with  Toscanelli's  map  before  him,  and 
his  objective  point  was  Cipango,  which  we  now  call  Japan. 
Had  he  been  in  a  dirigible  balloon,  he  might  have  had  some 
chance  of  reaching  it.  Having  got  on  the  twenty-eighth 
parallel,  he  meant  to  sail  straight  ahead  until  he  sighted  the 
island.  But  at  this  early  stage  the  "Pinta's"  rudder  was  in 
difficulties,  and  there  was  a  volcanic  eruption  on  Teneriff e ; 
and  it  was  plain  that  the  crews  of  the  caravels  had  no  heart 
for  their  job.  But  Colunibus,  being  at  last  embarked  upon 
the  adventure  to  which  he  had  been  for  twenty  years  look- 
jig  forward,  was  resolved  to  carry  it  through  at  all  hazards ; 
and  he  began  a  systematic  course  of  lying  about  the  distance 
run  each  day,  in  order  to  persuade  his  men  that  it  was  only 
a  little  excursion  after  all.  The  Sargasso  Sea  was  a  new 
source  of  misgiving ;  but  after  a  few  days-  they  had  safely 
left  this  in  their  wake.  The  next  trouble  was  furnished  by 
the  trade  winds;  if  they  always  blew  in  this  one  direction, 
now  were  the  ships  ever  to  get  back  again?  Then  there  were 
mirages,  and  the  sailors  made  sure  that  they  were  in  a  region 
of  enchantments.  By  October  4th,  mutiny  was  not  far  off. 
They  had  already  overrun  the  distance  on  which  the  admiral 
had  been  calculating;  but  he  had  understated  it  five  hun- 
dred miles,  so  they  had,  apparently,  still  something  in  hand. 
Flights  of  birds  led  him  to  believe  that  land  was  southwest 
of  his  course,  which  he  accordingly  altered  a  few  points,  and 


THE  UNSUSPECTING  EAST  59 

thus  missed  Florida,  and  finally — on  October  12th — hit  the 
island  which  is  generallysupposed  to  have  been  Watkins'. 
The  great  voyage  had  lasted  ten  weeks. 

It  was  two  in  the  morning.  With  dawn,  boats  were  low- 
ered and  they  rowed  ashore.  The  scenery  was  beautiful, 
especially  to  men  who  had  given  themselves  up  for  lost ;  and 
the  crews  were  transported  with  joy  and  glorious  anticipa- 
tions, while  the  native  savages,  crowding  down  to  the  beach, 
were  quite  as  much  excited  at  the  aspect  of  their  strange 
visitors.  Supernatural  beings  they  made  sure  they  must 
be,  and  acted  accordingly;  but  presently  gained  assurance 
enough  to  enter  into  conversation  with  them  in  the  universal 
sign  language.  The  natives  wore  gold  ornaments,  and  it 
was  not  long  before  Columbus  was  asking  them  whence  they 
obtained  this  metal ;  upon  which  they  pointed  to  the  south. 
Columbus  inferred  that  Cipango  must  be  in  that  direction, 
and  close  at  hand.  During  the  next  ten  days  he  cruised 
about  the  archipelago,  and  was  persuaded  that  he  was  among 
the  spice  islands  west  of  Cathay.  On  the  25th  of  October 
he  steered  for  Cipango,  meaning  to  get  information  there, 
and  then  keep  on  to  Cathay,  exchange  compliments  with  the 
Great  Khan,  and  so  home  again  in  triumph.  And  all  the 
while  Cathay  was  ten  thousand  miles  due  west. 

Ere  long  he  stumbled  upon  Cuba,  which  he  of  course 
assumed  to  be  Cipango;  but  though  he  found  pearl-shells 
there,  and  pretty  villages,  cities  there  were  none,  and  such 
information  as  he  was  able  to  elicit  seemed  to  indicate  that 
the  king  of  the  country  was  at  war  with  the  Khan,  and  that 
it  was  a  part  of  the  mainland  of  Asia.  If  this  were  so, 
where  was  Cipango?  He  kept  along  the  coast  toward  the 
south,  and,  on  reaching  Cape  Maisi,  took  it  to  be  the  end 
of  Asia.  Sailing  across  the  strait  to  Haiti,  which  he  named 
Hispaniola,  he  was  again  directed  south  to  a  land  of  gold 
which  the  natives  named  Cibao;  and  this,  surely,  must  be 
the  fugitive  Cipango  caught  at  last.  But  ere  this  Pinzon 
had  deserted,  to  sneak  away  to  Spain  to  anticipate  the  com- 
mander's glory;  and  now  the  flagship  struck  a  sand-spit  and 


60  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

was  knocked  to  pieces  by  the  surf.  He  was  left,  therefore, 
with  the  "Nina"  only,  an  open  boat  of  about  the  size  of  a 
man-of-war's  gig.  How  was  he  to  get  home?  The  problem 
was  solved  by  the  desire  of  forty  of  the  mariners  to  stay 
where  they  were,  in  the  soft  climate,  and  among  the  still 
softer  natives;  so  a  block-house  was  built  for  them  out  of 
the  wreck  of  the  flagship,  and  the  rest  set  out  on  the  "Nina" 
for  home.  On  the  way  they  picked  up  Pinzon,  who  had 
delayed  to  do  a  little  trading,  and  had  sprung  his  foremast. 
His  excuses  were  somewhat  awkward;  but  in  the  circum- 
stances they  had  to  serve.  Columbus,  opposed  by  the  trade 
winds,  ran  north  about  twenty  degrees,  and  then  squared 
off  for  Spain ;  he  was  nearly  destroyed  in  a  gale,  and  was 
driven  to  one  of  the  Azores,  from  which  he  narrowly  es- 
caped, only  to  be  hurried  by  another  tempest  into  the  port 
of  Lisbon.  The  news  of  his  exploit  set  all  Portugal  afire ; 
and  the  king  was  urged  to  have  Columbus  run  through  the 
body,  and  to  appropriate  his  discovery.  But  John  II.  per- 
ceived that  there  was  more  peril  than  profit  in  such  a  scheme ; 
and  he  invited  him  to  court  and  made  much  of  him.  In  due 
time  he  resumed  his  voyage,  and  reached  Palos  on  the  loth 
of  March. 

This  was  Columbus's  apogee;  everything  came  his  way. 
He  was  called  to  Barcelona  and  welcomed  with  triumph.  He 
was  even  allowed  to  sit  down  in  the  august  presence  of  Fer- 
dinand and  Isabella.  He  had  brought  half  a  dozen  Caribs 
with  him;  they  were  assumed  to  be  "Indians,"  and  the  Ad- 
miral's interpretation  of  his  discoveries  was  accepted  without 
question.  The  little  detail  that  nothing  of  Oriental  magnifi- 
cence— no  Great  Khans  and  mighty  cities — had  as  yet  been 
revealed,  was  passed  over ;  they  would  turn  up  upon  further 
investigation.  Land  had  been  found;  and  it  could  be  noth- 
ing but  Cipango  and  Cathay,  and  the  demesnes  that  there 
adjacent  lie,  for  the  simple  reason  that  it  could  be  nothing 
else;  there  was  nothing  else  for  it  to  be.  The  short  route 
to  the  Indies  had  been  discovered  for  Spain. 

On  September  25,  1493,  Columbus  set  out  on  his  second 


THE  UNSUSPECTING  EAST  61 

voyage,  with  seventeen  ships  and  fifteen  hundred  men ;  for 
there  was  no  lack  of  volunteers  and  money  this  time.  "Their 
dreams  were  of  the  marble  palaces  of  Quinsay,  of  isles  of 
spices,  and  the  treasures  of  Prester  John.  The  sovereigns 
wept  for  joy  as  they  thought  that  such  untold  riches  were 
vouchsafed  them  by  special  decree  of  Providence,  as  a  re- 
ward for  having  overcome  the  Moor  at  Granada  and  ban- 
ished the  Jews  from  Spain.  Columbus  shared  these  views 
and  regarded  himself  as  a  special  instrument  for  executing 
the  Divine  decrees.  He  renewed  his  vow  to  rescue  the  Holy 
Sepulchre,  promising  within  seven  years  to  equip  at  his  own 
expense  a  crusading  army  of  fifty  thousand  foot  and  four 
thousand  horse ;  within  five  years  thereafter  he  would  follow 
this  with  a  second  army  of  like  dimensions.  Thus  nobody 
had  the  faintest  suspicion  of  what  had  been  done.  The 
grandeur  of  the  achievement  was  quite  beyond  the  ken  of 
the  generation  that  witnessed  it.  For  we  have  since  come 
to  learn  that  in  1492  the  contact  between  the  eastern  and 
western  halves  of  our  planet  was  first  really  begun,  and  the 
two  streams  of  life  which  had  flowed  on  for  countless  ages 
apart  were  thenceforth  to  mingle  together.  The  first  voy- 
age of  Columbus  was  thus  a  unique  event  in  the  history  of 
mankind.  Nothing  like  it  was  ever  done  before,  and  noth- 
ing like  it  can  ever  be  done  again.  No  worlds  are  left  for 
future  Columbuses  to  conquer.  The  era  of  which  this  great 
Italian  was  the  most  illustrious  representative  had  closed 
forever." 

Thus  declaims  the  eloquent  Professor  Fiske.  How  sur- 
prised the  great  Oriental  potentates  would  have  been  had 
they  been  informed  that  their  dominions  were  thus  threat- 
ened, and  that  out  of  Caribs  and  cocoanuts  an  army  of  a 
hundred  thousand  men  was  to  be  raised  to  snatch  away  the 
Holy  Sepulchre  from  them!  How  dumfounded  Columbus 
would  have  been,  could  he  have  known  that  he  was  never 
destined  to  come  within  ten  thousand  miles  of  the  domains 
which  he  fancied  himself  to  have  annexed  to  Spain !  How 
foolish  all  these  good  folks  look  in  the  light  of  Nineteenth 


62  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

Century  knowledge :  and  how  natural  it  all  is !  How  blind 
a  tool  is  man  in  the  hands  of  the  Almighty,  and  how  self- 
complacent  ! 

The  absolute  lack  of  suspicion  that  a  new  world,  or  any- 
thing new,  had  been  found  by  Columbus — except  the  new 
way  of  reaching  what  were  assumed  to  be  old  places — must 
be  borne  in  mind  while  reading  the  sequel.  America  was 
discovered,  not  in  1492,  but  by  degrees  during  the  next  cent- 
ury or  so.  Columbus  made  four  voyages  thither  in  all,  and 
then  died,  without  any  misgivings  on  the  subject.  The 
world  in  general,  so  far  as  it  was  heard  from,  shared  his 
views;  indeed,  only  the  inhabitants  of  Cipango  and  Cathay 
could  have  called  them  in  question.  A  fierce  rivalry  be- 
tween Spain  and  Portugal  sprang  up,  and  the  pope  was 
asked  to  confirm  the  discoveries  to  the  former.  On  May 
3,  1493,  this  pontiff  (Alexander  VI.)  issued  a  bull  giving  to 
Spain  all  lands  then  or  thereafter  to  be  discovered  in  the 
western  sea ;  and  he  followed  this  by  a  second  decree,  to  the 
effect  that  all  lands  to  the  west  of  a  meridian  one  hundred 
leagues  west  of  the  Azores  and  Cape  Verde  Islands  should 
belong  to  the  Spaniards.  The  Portuguese  were  left  free  to 
pursue  their  researches  by  way  of  Africa.  The  Portuguese 
wished  to  have  the  Line  of  Demarcation  further  west,  and 
finally  Spain  agreed  to  advance  it  three  hundred  and  seventy 
leagues  west  of  the  Cape  Verde  Islands.  This  change  gave 
(as  afterward  appeared)  the  coast  of  Brazil  to  the  Portu- 
guese, and  had  important  bearing  on  the  subsequent  fame 
of  Amerigo  Vespucci. 

Meanwhile  a  Spanish  department  of  Indian  affairs  was 
created,  with  Fonseca  at  the  head  of  it;  and  he  remained 
dictator  for  thirty  years,  much  to  the  injury  of  all  that  was 
desirable  and  of  good  repute  in  the  new  dominions.  He  was 
such  an  arbitrary  and  merciless  scoundrel  as  only  Spain  can 
produce;  he  was  of  the  type  familiar  to  our  day  in  the  per- 
son of  General  Weyler.  He  was  also  an  archdeacon,  and 
was  exalted  to  be  a  bishop.  Under  him  began  the  famous 
colonial  policy  which  has  enabled  Spain  to  confer  more 


THE  UNSUSPECTING  EAST  63 

misery  on  the  human  race  than  any  other  nation,  and  has 
finally  resulted  in  her  overthrow  and  disgrace  by  a  war 
beginning  in  the  very  spot  which  saw  the  first  crimes  of 
her  career. 

A  Franciscan  monk,  Bernardino  Boyle,  was  appointed 
superintendent  of  the  missionary  work,  which  was  to  con- 
sist chiefly  in  baptizing  or  burning  the  natives,  as  conven- 
ience might  require.  In  the  course  of  the  preparations, 
Columbus  and  Fonseca  quarrelled,  and  Columbus  was  backed 
by  the  sovereigns,  which  insured  the  enmity  of  the  bishop 
during  the  remainder  of  the  admiral's  career.  On  the  new 
expedition  sailed  many  aristocratic  young  men  of  Spain,  and 
also  Columbus's  own  younger  brother  Diego,  and  Ponce  de 
Leon,  afterward  of  Florida.  Las  Casas  likewise  embarked, 
and  the  pilot  La  Cosa,  a  skilled  mariner  and  chart-maker. 
The  trip  was  easy  and  they  arrived  out  on  November  3d. 
They  cruised  about  for  a  while,  finding  new  islands,  and 
cannibals,  who  slew  some  of  them  with  poisoned  arrows. 
At  length  Columbus  sailed  into  the  harbor  on  the  Haitian 
coast  where  he  had  left  his  little  colony;  but  they  had  all 
been  killed  and  the  fort  torn  to  pieces.  The  occasion  of  the 
massacre  had  been  the  outrageous  conduct  of  the  Spaniards 
toward  the  native  women.  A  new  settlement,  called  Isa- 
bella, was  founded;  gold  was  found  in  the  neighborhood, 
and  twelve  ships  were  sent  back  to  Spain  for  more  men  and 
supplies.  A  march  of  exploration  was  undertaken,  and  the 
natives  were  frightened  almost  to  death  by  the  horses  which 
the  explorers  bestrode,  which  they  supposed  to  be  part  and 
parcel  of  the  riders.  After  studying  the  habits  of  the  tribes, 
which  did  not  well  agree  with  what  he  had  been  led  to  ex- 
pect of  Asiatics,  Columbus  left  affairs  in  charge  of  one 
of  his  subordinates,  Margarita  (another  scoundrel),  and  of 
Diego,  and  went  on  a  further  cruise  of  discovery  with  three 
caravels. 

Sighting  Cape  Maisi  once  more  he  kept  to  the  south,  and 
skirted  the  coast  of  Cuba  in  a  westerly  direction.  But  ere- 
long, influenced  by  the  natives,  he  bore  away  to  the  south, 


64  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

and  stumbled  upon  Jamaica.  Here  he  was  fiercely  attacked, 
but  put  tbe  natives  to  flight  with  a  bloodhound.  He  returned 
to  the  Cuban  coast,  which  he  still  imagined  to  be  that  of 
Cathay,  and  was  confirmed  in  this  belief  by  several  acci- 
dental topographical  features,  and  by  the  ill-comprehended 
tales  of  the  Indians.  Columbus  finally  arrived  at  the  con- 
clusion that  he  was  not  very  far  from  the  mouths  of  the 
Ganges;  and  he  projected  a  voyage  across  the  Indian  Ocean 
and  round  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  thus  circumnavigating 
the  earth.  It  is  conceivable  that  he  might  have  coasted 
round  South  America,  and  come  up  along  the  shores  of  Peru, 
looking  for  the  Pillars  of  Hercules !  But  this  crowning  ab- 
surdity was  spared  him.  He  did  not  continue  to  the  end 
of  Cuba  and  beyond,  which  might  have  brought  him  to 
Yucatan  and  the  splendid  cities  of  Uxmal  and  Campeche; 
and  the  condition  of  his  ships  did  not  permit  of  his  attempt- 
ing the  longer  voyage.  He  returned  for  the  time  to  His- 
paniola.  There,  after  having  taken  a  vote  from  all  hands, 
confirming  the  claim  that  the  land  they  had  found  was  Asia, 
and  that  one  might  walk  on  it  dry-shod  to  Spain,  he  set  out 
on  another  exploring  trip,  and,  without  knowing  it,  circum- 
navigated Hispaniola  (Haiti),  which  he  had  supposed  to  be 
Cipango.  The  trip  made  it  plain  that  Cipango  it  was  not ; 
and  Columbus  fell  into  a  swoon,  the  result  of  his  fatigue  and 
mystification.  "What  was  the  matter  with  geography?  It 
might  have  made  a  stronger  head  than  that  of  Columbus 
swim,  to  try  to  identify  west  with  east. 

At  this  juncture,  Bartholomew  Columbus  appeared  at  the 
admiral's  bedside,  in  good  season ;  for  the  island  was  going 
to  the  dogs.  Diego  had  been  unable  to  keep  the  rapacious 
and  dissolute  dons  in  order.  Boyle  and  Margarita  were 
among  the  worst  offenders.  They  finally  seized  some  of  the 
ships,  returned  to  Spain,  and  denounced  the  brothers  Colum- 
bus ;  and  when  they  got  the  ear  of  the  arch-scoundrel,  Fon- 
seca,  there  was  trouble  ahead.  There  was  no  real  ground 
for  complaint.  The  Columbuses  were  none  too  strict  in  their 
government  of  the  mutinous  colony,  and  hanged  only  a  few 


THE  UNSUSPECTING  EAST  05 

of  them;  but  they  were  perhaps  indiscreet  in  their  plan  of 
levying  tribute  from  the  natives,  thereby  driving  them  into 
open  war,  and  paving  the  way  for  the  slavery  which  later 
exterminated  the  native  tribes.  The  situation  was  one  of 
extreme  difficulty.  At  last  Spain  sent  over  an  official  to 
investigate  the  reports ;  and  the  complaints  which  he  received 
on  all  sides  influenced  him  against  Columbus,  who,  when  the 
emissary  returned  to  Spain,  thought  it  prudent  to  go  with 
him.  Just  before  starting,  gold  was  found  near  the  present 
town  of  San  Domingo,  and  the  headquarters  were  removed 
to  that  place ;  while  Columbus  became  convinced  that  he  had 
found,  if  not  Cipango,  at  any  rate  Solomon's  long-lost  Ophir. 
We  do  not  yet  know  precisely  where  Ophir  is ;  but  we  are 
not  ready  to  admit  that  Solomon  can  have  brought  his  treas- 
ures all  the  way  from  the  West  Indies  to  Jerusalem. 

Columbus  had  a  bad  voyage  to  Spain,  and  arrived  in  poor 
condition.  But  he  was  well  received,  and  promised  ships  for 
a  third  voyage.  The  sovereigns,  however,  were  violating 
their  contract  with  him,  in  allowing  private  adventurers  to 
fit  out  expeditions  to  the  Indies.  After  much  delay,  owing 
to  the  machinations  of  Fonseca,  Columbus  sailed  for  the 
third  time  on  the  30th  of  May,  1498,  with  six  vessels.  He 
divided  this  fleet  into  two  parts,  sending  one  division  to  His- 
paniola,  while  with  the  other  he  steered  a  southerly  course, 
which  brought  him  near  the  equator,  where  he  hoped  to  find 
the  mother-lode  of  the  gold  which  was  the  object  of  his 
special  ambition.  He  got  into  the  calm-belt  just  north  of 
the  equator,  and  all  the  horrors  described  by  "The  Ancient 
Mariner"  were  around  him.  Luckily,  he  was  in  the  equa- 
torial current,  which  presently  carried  him  into  the  trade 
wind,  before  which  he  finished  his  voyage  at  the  island 
which  he  named  Trinidad,  just  off  the  delta  of  the  Orinoco. 
The  volume  of  fresh  water  discharging  thence  admonished 
him  that  he  must  be  in  presence  of  a  continent;  and  how 
to  make  this  continent  fit  into  Toscanelli's  map  was  more 
than  the  much-bewildered  Columbus  could  imagine.  He 
finally  hit  upon  the  notion  that  the  world  was  shaped  like 


60  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

a  pear;  that  he  was  near  the  stem-end,  and  that  the  river 
poured  down  thence.  And  were  he  to  ascend  this  stream, 
there  was  little  doubt  but  that  he  would  reach  the  Garden 
of  Eden.  Such  was  the  imagination  of  the  Fifteenth  Century ! 

Revolving  these  discoveries,  Columbus  sailed  along  the 
Pearl  Coast,  mistaking  everything  he  saw  for  something 
else.  But  finally,  feeling  ill,  he  bore  away  for  Hispaniola, 
meaning  to  take  a  rest  while  his  brother  Bartholomew  pur- 
sued his  researches  along  the  Pearl  Coast. 

But  during  the  two  years  of  Cohimbus's  absence,  things 
had  gone  badly  in  the  colony;  civil  war  and  war  with  the 
natives  had  brought  all  to  ruin.  The  malcontents  had  com- 
municated with  Fonseca,  and  the  latter  was  sending  out  a 
judge  to  investigate.  To  add  to  Columbus's  discomfiture, 
his  exploit  had  been  rivalled  if  not  obscured  by  the  great 
voyage  of  Vasco  da  Gama,  who  had  doubled  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope  and  reached  the  coast  of  Hindustan.  Gama  was 
a  Portuguese ;  and  he  had  really  seen  the  cities  and  the  Isles 
of  Spice  which  had  so  unaccountably  escaped  Columbus. 
This  was  a  heavy  blow  both  to  the  latter  and  to  Spam ;  and 
to  make  matters  worse,  Bobadilla,  the  judge  from  Fonseca, 
turned  up  in  Hispaniola  and  at  once  proceeded  to  undo  all 
the  good  work  which  the  Columbuses  had  been  doing  in  the 
way  of  suppressing  the  insurrection.  Diego  was  put  in  jail ; 
and  Christopher  and  Bartholomew  were  sent  after  him. 
Bobadilla's  pretext  for  these  enormities  was,  that  he  had 
proof  that  the  three  brothers  were  inciting  the  Indians  to 
rebel  against  the  Spanish  king!  And  he  sent  them  forth- 
with to  Spain,  with  their  chains  upon  them — which  Chris- 
topher would  not  permit  to  be  removed.  If  this  was  the 
way  Spanish  viceroys  were  to  be  treated,  he  intended  that 
the  king  and  queen  should  have  ocular  proof  of  the  fact. 
To  Cadiz,  therefore,  the  poor  old  man  came,  in  his  unmerited 
disgrace,  and  aroused  an  outburst  of  popular  sympathy  and 
indignation.  The  queen  sent  a  courier  to  him,  with  a  cor- 
dial invitation  to  the  Alhambra,  where  she  met  him  with 
tears  and  apologies.  Bobadilla  was  disowned,  and  Colum- 


THE  UNSUSPECTING  EAST  67 

bus  was  promised  the  return  of  his  honors  and  repayment 
of  his  losses — which  last,  however,  the  Spanish  sovereigns 
characteristically  omitted  to  perform. 

Ovando,  another  of  Fonseca's  creatures,  and  a  priest, 
was  sent  to  restore  order  in  Hispaniola.  He  went  out  with 
thirty  ships  and  two  thousand  "five  hundred  men.  Columbus 
was  flattered  with  the  command  of  another  voyage  of  discov- 
ery, as  a  reply  to  the  recent  exploit  of  Da  Gama.  By  this 
time,  Amerigo  Vespucci  had  already  made  his  trip  along  the 
South  American  northern  coast  as  far  as  Maracaibo.  Colum- 
bus was  to  return  to  the  Cuban — which  he  imagined  to  be 
the  Cochin-China — coast,  in  quest  of  a  passage  between  the 
*'Eden"  continent  and  Malacca.  Thus  would  he  come  upon 
the  coast  of  Hindustan  which  Da  Gama  had  just  left.  Co- 
lumbus was  full  of  hope,  and  renewed  once  more  his  threats 
against  the  heathen  holders  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre;  it  is 
probable  that  his  mind  was  somewhat  impaired,  and  his 
insanity  took  the  form  of  religious  mysticism.  His  fleet 
comprised  four  caravels  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  men. 
Bartholomew  and  his  son  Ferdinand  (the  bastard)  went  with 
him.  He  put  in  at  San  Domingo  in  order  to  get  a  fresh  ves- 
sel ;  but  was  ordered  out  of  the  harbor  by  Ovando,  who  was 
just  sending  out  a  fleet  of  twenty-six  ships  laden  with  gold 
wrung  from  the  natives,  and  carrying  Bobadilla  and  others 
of  Columbus's  chief  foes.  In  spite  of  the  warning  of  an  ap- 
proaching hurricane,  given  by  Columbus,  the  fleet  set  sail, 
and  very  soon  twenty  of  the  ships  were  at  the  bottom  of  the 
Caribbean.  Only  one  ship  reached  Spain ;  but  on  that  one, 
by  a  curious  chance,  was  a  sum  of  gold  destined  for  Colum- 
bus himself.  Meanwhile  Columbus  had  ridden  out  the  hurri- 
cane in  safety,  and  now  proceeded  along  the  south  of  Cuba  to 
Cape  Honduras.  Here  he  fancied  himself  to  be  close  to  the 
Ganges ;  and  was  much  inspirited  by  the  evidences  of  semi-civ- 
ilization which  he  encountered.  Running  along  the  sixteenth 
parallel  eastward,  he  finally  turned  Cape  Gracias  a  Dios,  and 
to  his  joy  found  the  coast  trending  due  south.  Exploring  par- 
ties sent  ashore  found  stone  houses,  mummies,  carvings,  and 

A 


68  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

gold  in  abundance.  Columbus  also  got  news,  which  he  mis- 
understood of  course,  of  the  proximity  of  the  Pacific  Ocean ;  he 
mistook  the  description  of  the  "narrow  place"  between  these 
two  seas  for  a  strait,  instead  of  an  isthmus.  But  the  strait 
did  not  materialize,  and  presently  his  crews  forced  him  to 
turn  back.  In  spite  of  an  allowance  of  many  leagues,  the 
westerly  current  pushed  him  so  far  that,  instead  of  making 
Hispaniola,  he  brought  up  on  the  south  coast  of  Cuba,  where 
he  was  nearly  wrecked;  and  it  was  June  23,  1503,  when  he 
at  last  got  ashore  on  the  north  coast  of  Jamaica.  He  built 
a  shelter  of  his  wrecked  vessel,  and  sent  to  Ovando  for  aid ; 
but  was  kept  waiting  for  a  whole  year,  during  which  he 
suffered  much,  both  from  mutinies  and  native  onslaughts. 
It  was  not  until  June,  1504,  that  Ovando,  yielding  to  pop- 
ular clamor,  sent  two  ships  to  bring  Columbus  thence. 
Ovando  had  meanwhile  perpetrated  the  most  hideous  out- 
rages in  Hispaniola,  as  we  shall  presently  see.  On  Novem- 
ber 7th,  Columbus  started  for  Spain;  Isabella  was  on  her 
death-bed  when  he  arrived  at  Seville.  She  was  his  last  pro- 
tector against  his  enemy  Fonseca.  He  survived  but  eighteen 
months,  in  poverty  and  sickness.  On  the  20th  of  May,  1506, 
he  died  at  Valladolid.  He  was  buried,  without  notice  or 
respect,  in  the  Franciscan  monastery  there;  was  removed 
seven  years  later  to  Seville,  and  finally,  in  1536,  to  San 
Domingo.  The  current  belief  is  that  the  remains  were  after- 
ward taken  to  Havana;  but  the  recent  brazen  act  of  Spain 
in  claiming  them  has  opened  inquiries  which  make  it  doubt- 
ful if  any  one  really  knows  where  the  body  of  Columbus  is. 
He  died  neglected  and  dishonored ;  and  at  the  time  of  his 
death  no  one  knew  that  it  was  a  new  world  that  he  had 
found.  No  sailor  or  writer  had  surmised  it.  A  new  route 
to  the  Indies  he  was  believed  to  have  opened;  but  the  voy- 
age of  Da  Gama  had  taken  much  of  the  bloom  off  this 
achievement  in  the  popular  mind.  The  unanswered  ques- 
tion was,  are  his  discoveries  commercially  valuable?  If  not, 
let  him  be  anathema !  and  not  for  years  did  their  commercial 
value  appear.  Yet  Columbus  cannot  be  considered  an  un- 


THE   UNSUSPECTING  EAST  69 

fortunate  .man.  Men  are  only  happy  in  looking  forward  to 
success,  not  in  achieving  it;  for  they  ever  stand  on  what 
they  have  gained,  and  reach  after  more.  This  Genoese 
mariner  came  upward  from  nothing  to  the  most  conspicuous 
and  honored  position  among  his  contemporaries;  for  a  time 
he  was  almost  on  equal  terms  with  the  monarchs  of  Spain, 
and  was  allowed  to  quarter  his  arms  with  theirs.  No  further 
rewards  that  he  might  have  won  would  have  made  him 
happier;  and  had  he  lived  to  learn  that  his  plan  of  conquer- 
ing Jerusalem  from  the  Infidel  was  apocryphal,  he  would 
have  been  overwhelmed  with  mortification.  The  trouble 
with  him  was  that  he  had  been  only  too  fortunate,  and  that 
nothing  he  could  have  accomplished  after  his  first  great  suc- 
cess could  have  stood  on  an  equality  with  it.  And  although 
his  end  was  unhappy,  he  has  had  a  revival  of  honor  since 
his  death  which  surpasses  the  posthumous  lot  of  most  other 
men.  The  world  insists  upon  being  grateful  to  him,  not  for 
what  he  believed  himself  to  have  done,  but  for  what  he  act- 
ually did.  His  immortality  is  secure;  and  his  shortcomings 
and  follies  are  forgotten  in  the  splendor  of  his  glory. 


70  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 


III 

TBB  CABOT8,   VESPUCIU8,  AND  MAGELLAN 

THE  mariners  of  England  probably  heard  something 
about  the  attempt  of  the  Columbuses  to  induce  the 
English  king  to  furnish  them  with  means  to  reach 
India  by  crossing  the  Atlantic;  and  there  is  reason  to  believe 
that  expeditions  were  sent  out  from  the  port  of  Bristol,  prior 
to  Columbus's  voyage,  with  a  view  of  finding  out  what  lay  be- 
yond the  western  horizons.  The  supposed  "Island  of  Brazil" 
was  one  of  the  places  they  looked  for;  but  they  met  with  no 
success.  Among  the  promoters  of  these  enterprises  was  one 
John  Cabot,  born,  like  Columbus,  in  Genoa,  and  admitted 
to  citizenship  in  Venice.  He  married  there  and  had  three 
sons;  was  a  merchant,  trading  with  the  East,  and  was  curi- 
ous as  to  Oriental  countries.  In  1490  he  moved  to  England 
and  lived  in  Bristol ;  he  was  much  interested  in  the  reports 
of  Columbus's  voyage,  and  in  1496  or  1497  Henry  VII. 
issued  letters  patent  to  sail  to,  the  east,  west  or  north,  with 
five  ships  carrying  the  English  flag,  to  seek  and  discover  all 
the  islands,  countries,  regions,  or  provinces  of  pagans  in 
whatever  part  of  the  world.  It  was  to  the  Cabots  that  this 
permission  was  given ;  and  the  remonstrances  of  Spain  were 
met  by  omitting  the  southern  direction  from  the  instructions. 
Only  one  ship,  the  "Matthew,"  sailed,  with  a  crew  of  eigh- 
teen; the  start  was  in  May,  1497,  and  on  the  24th  of  June 
they  discovered  what  was  assumed  to  be  "the  territory  of 
the  Grand  Cham. "  A  month  later  they  were  back  in  Bristol, 
and  King  Henry  made  them  a  present  of  ten  pounds  sterling. 
Various  honors  of  less  substantial  nature  were  conferred 
upon  John  Cabot,  and  by  degrees  the  story  circulated  that 
he  had  discovered  the  Island  of  Brazil  and  the  Seven  Cities. 
He  made  another  voyage  in  1498,  and  that  is  the  last  we 


THE  CABOTS,  VESPUCIUS,  AND  MAGELLAN  71 

hear  of  the  elder  Cabot.  But  his  son  Sebastian  entered  the 
23rvice  of  Ferdinand  of  Aragon  about  fifteen  years  later, 
received  honors  from  that  monarch,  and  between  1526  and 
1530  was  involved  in  an  expedition  to  La  Plata  which  turned 
out  badly.  In  1548  he  was  back  in  England,  and  was  instru- 
mental in  opening  a  trade  with  Russia  by  way  of  the  White 
Sea.  He  died  in  London  about  1557.  During  these  sixty 
years  following  Columbus's  first  voyage,  geography  had 
been  growing  faster  than  the  comprehension  of  its  revela- 
tions; and  in  the  confusion  of  discoveries  mistakes  were 
often  made  as  to  who  should  have  the  credit  for  them.  One 
of  the  absurdities  perpetrated  by  subsequent  historians  of 
these  stirring  times  was,  that  John  Cabot's  voyage  of  1498 
had  been  undertaken  with  a  view  of  finding  a  northwest 
passage  to  Asia;  although  it  had  not  been  suspected  in  1498 
that  there  was  any  America  across  or  around  which  a  pas- 
sage, northwest  or  otherwise,  could  be  made.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  coast  which  Cabot  found  was  supposed  by  him  to 
be  Asia  itself.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  he  probably  discovered 
Newfoundland.  In  the  first  years  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
the  brothers  Cortereal  made  several  voyages  to  Labrador, 
or  places  in  that  region,  and  raised  question  as  to  whether 
the  Portuguese  were  not  transcending  the  Papal  Meridian 
already  alluded  to.  A  more  serious  cause  of  dispute  might 
have  arisen  with  England,  which  claimed  these  lands  through 
the  Cabots ;  but  Portugal  was  presently  conquered  by  Spain, 
and  was  thereby  disabled  from  pushing  her  side  of  the  case. 
Neither  the  Cabots  nor  the  Cortereals  are  in  the  first  class 
of  discoverers;  they  but  adopted  the  initiative  of  Columbus. 
But  there  was  a  certain  famous  Florentine  who  holds  a  high 
part  in  this  age  of  new  things,  and  whose  true  merits  as  a 
discoverer  and  explorer  are  matter  of  legitimate  interest  to 
the  world,  and  to  Americans  especially. 

His  name  was  Amerigo  Vespucci,  or  Americus  Vespucius, 
according  as  we  adopt  the  Italian  or  the  Latin  way  of  spell- 
ing. He  came  of  an  ancient  and  honorable  family,  which 
had  been  wealthy  and  remained  respectable.  Amerigo  was 


72  HISTORY   OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

fairly  well  educated,  and  was  fond  of  making  Latin  quota- 
tions— an  accomplishment  less  readily  practiced  then,  than 
in  these  days  of  appendices  to  lexicons.  But  his  favorite 
study,  and  one  in  which  he  achieved  eminence,  was  practical 
astronomy ;  no  one  could  surpass  him  in  fixing  a  latitude  or 
longitude.  Geography  was  also  one  of  his  hobbies;  and 
it  seems  plain  that  his  natural  bent  was  toward  travel  and 
exploration.  But  in  his  early  youth  he  was  taken  into  the 
commercial  establishment  of  the  Medicis,  and  that  came 
near  being  the  end  of  him.  He  was  not  heard  of,  to  any 
effect,  until  he  had  nearly  reached  his  fortieth  year :  he  was 
born  in  March,  1452,  and  was  therefore  at  least  six  and  prob- 
ably sixteen  years  Columbus's  junior.  He  was  agreeable  in 
manner  and  conversation,  keen  witted,  humorous,  and  self- 
contained.  His  face  was  dark  and  aquiline,  and  his  body 
strong,  and  of  middle  height. 

Had  the  Medicis  happened  to  retain  this  gentleman  at 
"office- work,"  it  is  certain  that  the  world  would  never  have 
heard  of  him.  Salaried  positions  are  apt  to  be  fatal  to  gen- 
ius. But  they  were  engaged  in  widespread  commercial 
dealings,  and  about  1490  they  selected  Amerigo  to  act  as 
confidential  agent  for  them  in  Spain.  Amerigo  took  with 
him  his  nephew  Juan,  who  subsequently  also  attained  dis- 
tinction as  a  map-maker  and  navigator.  "While  hi  Barce- 
lona, Amerigo  took  occasion  to  engage  in  some  commercial 
ventures  of  his  own ;  in  1495  he  contracted  to  furnish  cargo 
for  four  or  five  ships  for  the  Atlantic  trade.  He  probably 
was  acquainted  with  Columbus  before  this  date,  and  the 
friendship  between  the  two  men  was  always  cordial.  Two 
letters  of  his,  written  between  1496  and  1504,  to  one  of  the 
Medicis,  and  to  his  friend  Soderini,  inform  us  as  to  his  doings 
during  that  interval.  The  letters  were  published  (as  was 
the  custom  of  the  day)  and  were  widely  read ;  but,  owing  to 
some  mistakes  in  proof-reading  and  interpretation,  have  oc- 
casioned much  trouble  to  historical  investigators.  Amerigo 
himself  never  bothered  his  head  about  them ;  and  he  knew 
no  more  of  the  existence  of  "America"  than  did  Columbus. 


THE   CABOTS,  VESPUCIUS,  AND  MAGELLAN  73 

The  letters  were  unstudied  and  informal  communications  of 
facts,  and  nothing  more ;  they  were  never  meant  as  histori- 
cal documents,  and  lacked  the  completeness  and  explicitness 
which  they  would  in  the  latter  event  have  possessed. 

The  Soderini  letter  tells  about  four  voyages  of  the  writer, 
two  for  Spain,  and  two  for  Portugal.  In  these  voyages, 
Amerigo  was  not  the  commander,  but  the  astronomer,  or 
scientific  navigator — a  necessary  office  in  those  days,  though 
sometimes  combined  with  that  of  commander.  The  first 
voyage  took  place  from  May  10,  1497,  to  October  15,  1498; 
a  certain  line  of  coast  was  explored  which  was  thought, 
from  its  length,  to  be  continental.  A  mistake  in  transcrib- 
ing or  translating  a  name  afterward  led  to  this  voyage  being 
confounded  with  the  second  voyage,  with  the  result  of  much 
darkening  of  counsel.  The  second  voyage,  with  Ojeda  and 
La  Cosa,  started  May  20,  1499,  and  returned  in  June,  1500. 
It  followed  the  north  coast  of  Brazil  as  far  as  the  Pearl  Coast 
(visited  the  year  before  by  Columbus)  and  then  on  to  the 
Gulf  of  Maracaibo.  The  third  voyage  set  out  from  Lisbon 
on  May  14,  1501,  under  Portuguese  auspices,  and  returned 
on  September  15,  1502.  On  this  occasion  they  ran  down  the 
Brazilian  coast  to  latitude  thirty-four  degrees  south,  and 
then  turned  southeast  and  came  upon  the  island  of  South 
Georgia.  This  voyage  aroused -attention,  for  it  was  in  a 
part  of  the  world  hitherto  unknown,  and  the  land  it  discov- 
ered was  fitted  into  existing  maps  with  more  difficulty  than 
the  Indies  of  Columbus.  A  fourth  voyage  attempted  to 
reach  the.  southern  end  of  the  South  American  coast  line, 
but  met  with  disasters,  and  returned  in  1504.  In  the  au- 
tumn of  this  year  Amerigo  returned  to  the  Spanish  service 
with  the  rank  of  captain  and  a  good  salary.  Two  more  voy- 
ages he  made,  exploring  the  Gulf  of  Uraba ;  then  he  married 
and  settled  down;  being  raised  in  1508  to  the  rank  of  Pilot 
Major.  He  died  1512. 

Such  are  the  leading  incidents  of  Amerigo's  career,  in 
which,  certainly,  appears  nothing  discreditable  or  treacher- 
ous. Nevertheless,  he  has  long  suffered  from  posthumous 


7*  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

reproach,  which  is  based  upon  inferences  drawn  from  his 
own  letters  above-mentioned — or,  to  be  more  exact,  from 
Latin  translations  of  the  Italian  originals,  which  were  lost. 
Lost,  also,  and  probably  destroyed,  is  the  manuscript  of  a 
work  which  he  had  in  hand,  comprising  a  detailed  and  scien- 
tific account  of  the  same  voyages  which  he  described  conver- 
sationally and  informally  in  the  letters.  But  the  Italian  text 
of  one  of  the  most  important  letters — to  Soderini — has  lately 
been  recovered ;  and  a  perusal  of  that  clears  up  much  which 
had  hitherto  been  obscure  and  which  led  to  the  charges  of 
bad  faith  and  treachery  alluded  to. 

The  Latin  version  of  the  letter  in  question  was  published 
from  a  Lorraine  press  in  1507.  The  Italian  original  was 
found  only  in  1873.  Comparing  the  two  texts,  we  find  that 
the  name  of  an  Indian  place  mentioned  by  the  writer  has 
been  changed  in  the  Latin  to  quite  a  different  name.  Why 
was  this  done?  Apparently  because  the  transcriber  failed  to 
make  out  the  original  name,  and  therefore  substituted  for  it 
one  which  he  thought  better  fitted  the  context.  In  the  Ital- 
ian, the  name  is  Lariab ;  in  the  Latin,  it  has  been  changed 
to  Farias.  In  making  this  alteration,  the  Latin  transcriber 
had  not  been  aware  that  in  the  language  of  the  Huastecas 
names  of  places  often  end  in  ab.  On  the  other  hand,  Farias 
was  already  known  as  the  native  name  of  a  region  on  the 
western  Atlantic  coast,  about  two  thousand  miles  distant 
from  the  Lariab  referred  to  by  Amerigo;  and  the  conse- 
quence of  the  alteration  was,  of  course,  to  shift  the  scene 
of  this  first  voyage  beyond  recognition.  To  confirm  the 
error,  Vespucci  had  described  a  little  village  built  on  piles, 
like  "a  little  Venice  "  in  the  Tabasco  region;  but  there  was 
also  a  village  called  Venezuela  in  the  Gulf  of  Maracaibo ; 
and  upon  the  assumption  (wholly  contrary  to  the  facts)  that 
there  could  be  but  one  village  built  on  piles  after  the  fashion 
of  a  little  Venice,  the  locality  of  the  voyage  was  violently 
removed  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  where  he  placed  it  by 
latitude  and  longitude,  and  carried  to  the  northern  coast  of 
South  America.  Moreover,  Amerigo  did,  in  his  second  voy- 


THE   CABOTS,  VESPUCIUS,  AND  MAGELLAN  75 

age,  sail  along  the  northern  coast  of  South  America,  in  1499 : 
and  Columbus  had  been  in  the  same  place  the  year  previous. 
Thus  did  it  happen — long  after  the  death  of  both  the  parties 
concerned — that  Amerigo  was  accused  of  having  "faked" 
the  story  of  his  £rst  voyage,  and  made  it  a  false  duplicate 
of  the  second,  for  no  other  reason  than  that  he  might  be 
credited  with  the  discovery  of  a  continent  one  year  before 
his  friend  Columbus,  who  was  there  in  1498. 

The  preposterousness  of  the  charge  becomes  evident  upon 
examination.  In  1504,  when  the  letter  was  written,  neither 
Amerigo  nor  any  one  else  suspected  that  a  new  continent 
had  been  discovered.  He  supposed  that  it  was  Asia  which 
he  was  coasting ;  and  that  he  did  visit  this  coast  before  Co- 
lumbus the  dates  prove.  Again,  when  an  inquiry  was  insti- 
tuted, in  1515,  to  determine  just  what  lands  Columbus  had 
discovered,  in  order  to  settle  what  revenues  his  son  Diego 
was  entitled  to,  it  was  established  at  this  inquiry,  beyond 
doubt,  that  Amerigo  neither  made,  nor  professed  to  have 
made,  any  exploration  of  the  Maracaibo  coast  prior  to  1498. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  and  record,  Amerigo,  on  his  first  voy- 
age, sailed  for  Cape  Honduras,  and  round  Yucatan,  and 
found  his  "little  Venice"  on  the  Tabasco  shore.  This  was 
in  1497.  Thence  he  went  by  Tampico  (which  he  understood 
to  be  called  Lariab)  to  the  Huasteca  country ;  and  after  some 
stay  there,  he  continued  north  and  west  for  eight  hundred 
and  seventy  leagues,  and  refitted  in  a  fine  harbor,  which 
may  have  been  the  Chesapeake.  Sailing  eastward  there- 
from, he  saw  the  Bermudas,  and  so  returned  home. 

The  coast  of  Florida  was  visited  by  Spaniards  before 
1502,  but  the  peninsula  was  confounded  by  geographers 
with  the  island  of  Cuba  in  many  of  their  maps.  This  visit 
to  Florida  could  only  have  been  made  by  Amerigo,  and,  if 
before  1502,  could  only  have  been  in  1497,  the  date  he  him- 
self assigns  to  it. 

The  second  voyage  of  Amerigo,  as  we  have  seen,  was 
concerned  with  the  Brazilian  coast.  He  was  followed,  in 
1499,  by  Pinzon,  who  discovered  the  mouth  of  the  Amazon. 


76  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

In  the  next  year  De  Cabral,  intending  to  go  round  Africa  to 
Hindustan,  was  blown  across  the  Atlantic  and  came  unawares 
upon  the  Brazilian  coast— thus  discovering  America  anew, 
and  involuntarily.  He  took  possession  of  it  for  Portugal,  as- 
suming that  it  must  lie  east  of  the  Papal  Meridian.  In  1501, 
Vespucci  started  on  his  third  voyage,  which  brought  him  to 
the  harbor  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  and  ultimately  to  South  Georgia. 
This  voyage  first  established  the  existence  of  antarctic  cold. 
But  the  most  interesting  feature  of  the  voyage,  to  contempo- 
raries, was  the  unlooked-for  continent  below  the  equator.  It 
was  on  no  ancient  maps.  Amerigo  himself  called  it  a  "New 
"World,"  though  he  obviously  does  not  connect  it  with  the 
coast  of  Florida  and  beyond,  along  which  he  had  sailed  in 
his  voyage  of  1497.  "For,"  says  he,  in  his  letter,  "it  tran- 
scends the  ideas  of  the  ancients,  since  most  of  them  say  that 
beyond  the  equator  to  the  south  there  is  no  continent,  but 
only  the  sea  which  they  call  the  Atlantic.  But  this  last 
voyage  of  mine  has  proved  that  this  opinion  of  theirs  was 
erroneous,  since  in  these  southern  regions  I  have  found  a 
continent  more  thickly  inhabited  by  peoples  and  animals 
than  our  Europe,  or  Asia,  or  Africa,  and  moreover  a  cli- 
mate more  temperate  and  agreeable  than  in  any  region 
known  to  us."  The  term  "New  World"  caught  the  public 
attention,  and  the  more  because  a  Latin  translation  of  the 
letter  in  which  it  occurred  was  published  in  1504,  with  the 
title  "Mundus  Novus."  With  this,  of  course,  Amerigo  had 
nothing  to  do,  nor  was  he  at  that  time  in  Europe.  But  it 
was  a  long  step  toward  that  final  naming  of  the  Continent 
of  America,  which  has  since  then  occasioned  so  much  criti- 
cism adverse  to  the  eminent  navigator. 

The  matter  was  taken  up  by  map-makers  and  geograph- 
ical commentators  from  that  time  on,  and  until  long  after 
Amerigo's  death.  They  had  supreme  difficulty  in  getting 
into  their  heads  the  conception  of  a  Pacific  Ocean,  and  made 
frantic  efforts  to  accommodate  the  stories  of  new  lands  west 
of  the  Atlantic  with  supposed  developments  of  the  Asiatic 
coasts.  The  discoveries  of  Amerigo  on  his  third  voyage  are 


THE  CABOTS,  VESPUCIUS,  AND   MAGELLAN  77 

sometimes  represented  as  a  huge  island  below  the  equator, 
somewhat  answering  in  position  to  Australia;  and  some- 
times as  a  monstrous  projection  of  the  Asiatic  continent. 
Occasionally  it  would  be  regarded  as  connected  in  some  way 
with  southern  Africa;  anything,  in  short,  rather  than  sup- 
pose a  stretch  of  clear  water  separating  Asia  from  the  new- 
found lands.  Thus  in  the  maps  of  Ruysch,  published  1508, 
and  the  Lenox  Globe,  dated  two  years  later,  we  have  Novus 
Mundus  as  an  Australia ;  and  in  the  map  of  Orontius,  made 
in  1531,  we  find  North  and  South  America  drawn  as  a  huge 
promontory  thrusting  forth  in  a  general  southeasterly  di- 
rection from  Cathay,  and  merging  into  unknown  antarctic 
regions,  after  Ptolemy's  old  suggestion  of  a  southern  Terra 
Incognita.  In  this  map  we  behold  the  name  America  tak- 
ing the  place  of  the  Novus  Mundus  which  has  hitherto  been 
applied  to  this  region,  whether  continent  or  island.  It  prop- 
erly stood  for  what  we  now  know  as  Brazil ;  but  Brazil  had 
been  accepted  as  the  same  with  the  entire  new  discovery  be- 
low the  equator,  and  was  not  thought  to  have  any  necessary 
connection  with  the  Indies  of  Columbus.  In  1507  was  pub- 
lished a  small  book  written  by  "Waldseemuller,  proposing  that 
the  "  Fourth  Part' '  of  the  globe,  discovered  by  Amerigo,  should 
be  called  Amerige,  or  America — the  land  of  Americus.  The 
reason  why  a  distinct  name  was  proposed  for  this  Fourth  Part 
was,  because  it  was  distinctly  new;  and  the  reason  why  the 
lands  discovered  by  Columbus  were  not  at  the  same  time 
called  Columbia  was,  because  they  were  believed  to  be  already 
named  Cathay.  And  it  was  not  until,  years  later,  the  con- 
ception began  to  dawn  in  men's  minds  that  the  new  south- 
ern island  or  continent  was  of  one  piece  with  the  Columbian 
Indies,  that  the  name  already  bestowed  on  the  former  came 
insensibly  to  be  applied  to  the  whole.  No  disrespect  was 
intended  to  Columbus;  it  was  simply  a  question  of  express- 
ing the  unity  of  the  north  and  south  portions,  so  tardily  real- 
ized. And  that  Amerigo  could  have  had  any  part  in  the 
proceeding  is  manifestly  impossible.  He  had  no  sinister 
ambition  to  immortalize  his  name  at  the  expense  of  his 


78  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

friend  Columbus;  he  was  simply  anxious  to  fulfil  commis- 
sions intrusted  to  him  with  all  the  energy  and  ambition  he 
had ;  and  was  as  fond  of  exploration  as  he  was  well  qualified 
for  it.  But  he  was  fated  to  suffer  malignment.  If  it  had 
come  before  his  death,  he  could  easily  have  cleared  himself; 
as  it  came  posthumously,  he  was  debarred  from  this,  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  it  never  hurt  his  feelings.  He  has  had  to 
wait  to  the  present  decade  for  vindication,  which  must  like- 
wise be  a  matter  of  indifference  to  him ;  but  it  is  pleasant  for 
Americans  to  know  that  their  country  does  not  bear  the  pat- 
ronymic of  a  swindler  and  villain. 

Amerigo  was  attacked  by  Scandinavian  commentators, 
and  by  Las  Casas,  the  biographer  of  Columbus,  all  owing  to 
a  misunderstanding  of  the  documentary  evidence.  It  is  not 
the  first  time  that  the  truth  has  been  illustrated  that  the  most 
bitter  quarrels  are  those  which  turn  out  to  have  been  due  to 
some  mistake.  People  are  always  ready  to  denounce  an  in- 
justice— even  readier  than  to  take  the  pains  to  make  sure 
that  an  injustice  has  been  committed.  But  they  are  hardly 
less  willing  to  do  justice  to  those  who  have  been  wronged, 
when  the  wrong  has  been  made  plain ;  and  the  time  may 
come  when  we  shall  celebrate  the  birthday  of  Amerigo  Ves- 
pucci with  as  much  goodwill  as  we  now  give  to  the  magnifi- 
cation of  Christopher  Columbus. 

After  the  existence  of  a  continuous  stretch  of  land  across 
the  Atlantic  had  been  discovered;  and  after  it  had  been  made 
tolerably  clear  that  these  strange  coasts  did  not  answer  to  the 
anticipations  of  those  who  assumed  them  to  be  Asiatic ;  the 
next  step  in  the  evolution  of  the  conception  of  America  as  a 
thing  by  itself  was  to  realize  the  existence  of  a  vast  ocean  on 
the  further  side  of  it.  Rumors  of  this  had  been  heard,  or 
glimpses  of  it  caught,  perhaps,  at  one  time  or  another,  be- 
fore the  actual  fact  was  understood ;  the  persuasion  against 
it  was  so  strong,  and  involved  so  much,  that  it  would  only 
be  accepted  when  the  last  possibility  of  questioning  it  was 
gone.  Meanwhile  Spain  was  very  anxious  to  get  through  or 
round  this  singular  barrier  of  islands,  or  whatever  it  was, 


THE   CABOT8,  VESPUCIUS,  AND  MAGELLAN  79 

that  was  keeping  her  from  sharing  the  profits  which  Da 
Gama  had  brought  to  Portugal  from  Hindustan;   and  she 
repeatedly  sent  out  expeditions  with  the  view  of  accomplish- 
ing this.     The  fourth  voyage  of  Amerigo  was  made  in  the 
Portuguese  interest,  and,  as  we  have  already  observed,  it 
met  with  mishaps ;  one  of  the  six  ships  was  sunk,  and  the 
others  were  separated.     Amerigo,  in  his  ships,  proceeded  to 
Cape  Frio,  where,  he  says,  "we  stayed  five  months,  building 
a  block-house  and  loading  our  ships  with  dye-wood.     We 
could  get  no  further  for  want  of  men  and  equipments.     So 
after  finishing  this  work  we  decided  to  return  to  Portugal, 
leaving  twenty-four  men  in  the  fortress,  with  twelve  pieces 
of  cannon,  a  good  outfit  of  small-arms,  and  provisions  for 
six  months.     We  made  peace  with  all  the  natives  in  the 
neighborhood,  whom  I  have  not  mentioned  in  this  voyage, 
but  not  because  we  did  not  see  and  have  dealings  with  great 
numbers  of  them.    As  many  as  thirty  of  us  went  forty  leagues 
inland,  where  we  saw  so  many  things  that  I  omit  to  relate 
them,  reserving  them  for  my  book,  'The  Four  Journeys.'  " 
This  voyage  had  been  made  in  the  Portuguese  service; 
but  Amerigo  now  returned  to  the  flag  of  Spain ;  apprehend- 
ing,  probably,   that  the  Papal  Meridian  would   invalidate 
whatever  he  might  accomplish  for  the  other  Power.     An- 
other voyage  to  the  Brazilian  coast  was  planned,  which  was 
to  determine  finally  where  its  turning-point   (if  any  there 
were)  was  placed;   but  circumstances  prevented  this  enter- 
prise from  being  performed.      Portugal  raised  objections; 
and  it  was  held  prudent  to  defer  the  matter  for  the  time. 
But  in  1505  Amerigo,  with  La  Cosa,  explored  the  Gulf  of 
Darien,   and   penetrated   two   hundred   miles  up  the   river 
Atrato.     They  had  thought  this  might  prove  a  strait  lead- 
ing to  Asiatic  waters ;   in  this  they  were  disappointed,  but 
were  comforted  with   grains  of   gold  in  the  sands  of  the 
stream,   and  with   these,   and  pearls,   they  returned  home 
with   a   good   grace.     Another  voyage,    commercial   in   its 
purpose  as  well  as  in  its  issue,  was  made  in  1507.     Later 
still,  another  voyage,  though  without  Amerigo,  was  under- 


80  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

taken  to  extreme  southern  waters,  the  dispute  with  Portu- 
gal having  been  adjusted ;  but  the  captains  disagreed,  and 
came  back  in  October,  1509.  Amerigo  died  in  1513;  in  1515, 
Solis  explored  La  Plata ;  but  was  there  captured  and  eaten 
by  the  natives.  Before  this  time  the  idea  that  there  might 
be  a  body  of  water  west  of  the  Novus  Mundus  had  been  ad- 
umbrated in  a  map  drawn  by  Stobnicza;  and  in  1513  this 
surmise  was  supported  by  the  discovery  of  the  Pacific  by 
Nunez  de  Balboa;  though,  of  course,  Balboa  had  no  realiza- 
tion that  the  expanse  he  looked  upon  stretched  thousands 
of  miles  beyond  the  reach  of  his  wondering  eyes.  It  was 
reserved  for  Magellan  to  force  the  conviction  of  that  great 
fact  upon  mankind. 

The  Portuguese  were  chiefly  instrumental  in  preparing 
the  way  for  this.  Their  voyages  round  Africa  had  brought 
them  in  warlike  contact  with  the  Arabs,  or  Moors,  and  they 
had  seen  the  necessity  of  seizing  upon  points  of  vantage  to 
secure  their  trade  in  eastern  waters.  Incidentally,  they 
proved  that  the  Asiatic  coast  had  not  so  great  an  easterly 
extension  as  had  been  asserted  by  early  geographers.  Be- 
tween the  longitude  of  Brazil  and  that  of  the  Moluccas  there 
was  manifestly  a  vast  expanse,  which  must  be  filled  up  by 
something.  What  that  something  was,  Ferdinand  Magellan 
(or  Fernao  da  Magalhaes,  as  his  countrymen  called  him)  was 
now  to  demonstrate. 

He  was  born,  about  1480,  of  an  old  and  aristocratic  fam- 
ily, in  the  wild  region  of  Sabrosa.  He  was  sturdy,  keen  and 
brave,  with  glowing  dark  eyes  under  great,  arching  brows, 
and  the  bony,  bearded  jaws  of  a  man  fashioned  for  conflicts. 
"Withal,  he  was  kind  of  heart,  ready  to  risk  his  life  for  oth- 
ers. He  was  brought  up  in  the  court  at  Lisbon,  served  in 
the  navy  in  its  exploits  in  the  East,  and  at  all  times  kept 
in  the  van  of  danger  and  adventure.  At  Malacca,  in  1508, 
an  event  occurred  which  is  well  described  by  Professor  Fiske. 
"While  they  were  preparing  to  take  in  a  cargo  of  pepper  and 
ginger,  the  astute  Malay  king  had  plotted  their  destruction. 
His  friendly  overtures  deceived  the  frank  and  somewhat  too 


THE   CABOTS,  VESPUCIUS,  AND  MAGELLAN  81 

unsuspicious  Sequeira.  Malay  sailors  and  traders  were  al- 
lowed to  come  on  board  the  four  ships,  and  all  but  one  of 
the  boats  were  sent  to  the  beach,  under  command  of  Fran- 
cisco Serrano,  to  hasten  the  bringing  of  the  cargo.  Upon 
the  quarter-deck  of  his  flagship  Sequeira  sat  absorbed  in  a 
game  of  chess,  with  half  a  dozen  dark  faces  intently  watch- 
ing him,  their  deadly  purposes  veiled  with  polite  words  and 
smiles.  Ashore  the  houses  rose  terrace-like  upon  the  hillside, 
while  in  the  foreground  the  tall  tower  of  the  citadel — square, 
with  pyramidal  apex,  like  an  Italian  bell-tower — glistened 
in  the  September  sunshine.  The  parties  of  Malays  on  the 
ships,  and  down  on  the  bustling  beach,  cast  furtive  glances 
at  this  summit,  from  which  a  puff  of  smoke  was  presently 
to  announce  the  fatal  moment.  The  captains  and  principal 
officers  on  shipboard  were  to  be  at  once  stabbed  and  their 
vessels  seized,  while  the  white  men  ashore  were  to  be  mas- 
sacred. But  a  Persian  woman  in  love  with  one  of  the  offi- 
cers had  given  tardy  warning,  so  that  just  before  the  firing 
of  the  signal  the  Portuguese  sailors  began  chasing  the  Ma- 
lays from  the  decks,  while  Magellan,  in  the  only  boat,  rowed 
for  the  flagship,  and  his  stentorian  shout  of  'Treason!'  came 
just  in  time  to  save  Sequeira.  Then  in  wild  confusion,  as 
wreaths  of  smoke  curled  about  the  fatal  tower,  Serrano  and 
a  few  of  his  party  sprang  upon  their  boats  and  pushed  out 
to  sea.  Most  of  their  comrades,  less  fortunate,  were  sur- 
rounded and  slaughtered  on  the  beach.  Nimble  Malay  skiffs 
pursued  and  engaged  Serrano,  and  while  he  was  struggling 
against  overwhelming  odds,  Magellan  rowed  up  and  joined 
battle  with  such  desperate  fury  that  Serrano  was«saved.  No 
sooner  were  all  the  surviving  Portuguese  brought  together 
on  shipboard  than  the  Malays  attacked  in  full  force,  but 
European  guns  were  too  much  for  them,  and  after  several 
of  their  craft  had  been  sent  to  the  bottom,  they  withdrew. 
This  affair  was  the  beginning  of  a  devoted  friendship  be- 
tween Magellan  and  Serrano,  sealed  by  many  touching  and 
romantic  incidents,  like  the  friendship  between  Gerard  and 
Denys,  in  'The  Cloister  and  the  Hearth';  and  it  was  out 


82  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

of  that  friendship  that   in   great   measure  grew  the  most 
wonderful  voyage  recorded  in  history." 

In  1511  Serrano  was  wrecked  on  a  pirate  island  near  the 
Moluccas;  the  pirates  returned  while  he  was  there,  and,  while 
they  were  ashore,  Serrano  seized  their  ship  and  went  back  to 
the  Moluccas,  where  he  remained  for  the  rest  of  his  life.  He 
wrote  to  Magellan,  and  the  latter  resolved  to  join  him.  Not 
realizing  the  breadth  of  the  Pacific,  however,  he  thought  that 
the  antipodal  Papal  Meridian  must  fall  west  of  the  Moluccas, 
and  that,  consequently,  Serrano  must  be  on  Spanish  ground. 
This  delayed  him  in  his  purpose ;  and  meanwhile  he  got  out 
of  favor  with  Portugal.  In  1515,  or  earlier,  he  had  persuaded 
himself  that  there  must  be  a  passage  through  the  coast-line  of 
Novus  Mundus,  and  he  was  anxious  to  discover  it.  Emanuel 
of  Portugal  having  refused  to  assist  him,  he  turned  to  the 
king  of  Spain,  then  but  a  boy;  here  he  found  favor,  and 
on  September  20,  1519,  he  sailed  with  five  ships  from  the 
Guadalquivir.  His  vessels  were  named  "Trinidad,"  "San 
Antonio,"  "Concepcion,"  "Victoria,"  and  "Santiago";  the 
largest  was  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  tons  burden,  the 
smallest  of  seventy- five;  all  were  old  and  hardly  seaworthy. 
The  crews,  a  motley  company,  numbered  two  hundred  and 
eighty  men  all  told.  Emanuel  of  Portugal  was  all  the  while 
doing  his  utmost  to  destroy  the  expedition,  sowing  seeds  of 
mutiny  in  the  crew,  and  sending  word  to  his  commanders  in 
Asiatic  stations  to  arrest  the  ships  should  they  arrive  there. 
Of  the  four  subordinate  captains  of  Magellan's  fleet,  one 
only,  Juan  Serrano,  brother  of  the  man  he  saved,  remained 
faithful  to  him  in  the  sequel. 

After  experience  of  calms,  storms,  and  incipient  mutiny, 
the  ships  reached  Pernambuco  on  November  29th.  Thence 
they  went  to  the  La  Plata,  and  satisfied  themselves  that  it 
was  not  the  strait  they  sought.  Running  down  the  Patago- 
nian  coast,  through  stormy  weather,  they  found  shelter  in 
the  harbor  of  Port  St.  Julian ;  and  there  the  mutiny  broke 
out  in  earnest.  It  was  Easter  Sunday. 

The  voyage,  in  fact,  had  been  a  hard  one,  and  the  chances 


THE   CABOTS,  VESPUCIUS,  AND   MAGELLAN  83 

of  finding  a  strait  were  slim.  But  Magellan  would  listen  to 
no  suggestions  of  returning ;  he  would  go  on  until  the  strait 
was  found  or  the  end  of  the  continent  reached.  Here,  then, 
they  were  to  remain  until  the  antarctic  winter  was  over — six 
months  of  enforced  idleness  and  discomfort.  The  mutinous 
captains  felt  that  their  time  to  strike  had  come;  and  on 
Easter  Sunday  night  they  boarded  the  "Antonio,"  put  her 
captain  in  irons,  and  mastered  the  crew.  They  now  had 
three  of  the  five  ships  in  their  power,  and  the  game  seemed 
theirs.  On  Monday  morning  the  situation  was  revealed  to 
Magellan.  Instead  of  succumbing,  he  at  once  took  meas- 
ures, and  very  radical  ones,  to  turn  the  tables  on  the  muti- 
neers. He  sent  a  boat  with  some  half  dozen  trusty  men  to 
the  "Victoria' ' ;  so  small  a  number  was  permitted  by  the  trai- 
tor captain  Mendoza  to  come  aboard ;  and  upon  the  latter's 
refusal  to  come  to  the  flagship,  Espinosa,  the  alguazil,  leaped 
upon  him  and  struck  a  dagger  through  his  throat.  Before 
the  crew  could  recover  from  their  surprise,  another  boatload 
of  men,  which  had  been  kept  in  readiness  by  Magellan,  and 
was  led  by  his  brother-in-law  Barbosa,  came  swarming  over 
the  ship's  side  and  captured  her.  The  odds  were  now  in 
Magellan's  favor;  and  by  night  he  had  fought  and  captured 
the  "San  Antonio";  whereupon  the  "Concepcion"  surren- 
dered. Quesada,  the  chief  ringleader,  was  relieved  of  his 
head  forthwith,  and  two  others  were  kept  in  irons  till  the 
fleet  sailed.  Such  a  man  was  Magellan. 

During  the  last  week  of  August,  spring  began,  and  the 
fleet,  less  the  "Santiago,"  which  had  been  wrecked,  set  out 
southward.  After  much  bad  weather,  they  made  Cape  Vir- 
gins on  October  21st,  and  soon  entered  a  large  bay.  It  was 
the  opening  of  what  is  now  known  as  Magellan's  Strait ;  high 
mountains  covered  with  snow  surrounded  it  on  both  sides ;  it 
was  in  some  places  of  great  width,  in  others  narrow.  At  this 
point  the  "San  Antonio"  took  the  opportunity  to  desert,  and 
returned  to  Spain.  For  five  weeks  the  remaining  three  ships 
wound  along  through  the  tortuous  channel.  Provisions  were 
running  short;  but  Magellan  would  not  turn  back,  even  if 


84  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

"he  had  to  eat  the  leather  off  the  ship's  yards."  At  length 
his  persistency  was  rewarded  by  the  sight  of  the  open  sea. 
"When,"  to  quote  Richard  Eden,  "the  capitayne  was  past 
the  strayght  and  saw  the  way  open  to  the  other  mayne  sea, 
he  was  so  gladde  thereof  that  for  joy  the  teares  fell  from  his 
eyes,  and  named  the  poynt  of  the  lande  from  whense  he  first 
sawe  that  sea  Capo  Desiderate. ' '  And  the  broad  ocean  which 
lay  before  him  was  so  calm,  after  his  many  stormful  days, 
that  he  called  it  the  Pacific.  But  months  of  a  voyage  as 
trying  as  any  they  had  encountered  still  lay  before  them. 
Could  the  planet  be  so  vast?  Till  December  they  kept  a 
northerly  course;  then  they  struck  out  boldly  across  the  un- 
known waste.  They  ran  across  one  or  two  islands ;  but  ere 
long  they  were  swaUowed  up  in  the  seemingly  endless  im- 
mensity of  ocean.  For  yet  five  thousand  miles  they  were 
to  see  nothing  of  land.  They  were  reduced  to  the  utmost 
extremities  for  food  and  water.  Scurvy,  of  course,  broke 
out.  Nineteen  men  died,  and  thirty  more  were  too  ill  to 
work.  Had  not  the  weather  been  on  the  whole  fair,  they 
would  doubtless  never  again  have  been  heard  of. 

But  finally,  on  the  6th  of  March,  they  reached  the  La- 
drone  Islands,  so  named  on  account  of  the  thievishness  of 
the  natives;  here  they  got  fruit  and  other  food,  and  the 
worst  was  over.  Ten  days  later  the  Philippines  were  sighted, 
and  Magellan  knew  the  extent  of  his  achievement.  He  had 
sailed  round  the  world.  The  Philippines  were  on  the  Span- 
ish side  of  the  Papal  Meridian,  and  he  believed  (mistakenly) 
that  the  Moluccas  were  so  likewise.  And  now,  and  perhaps 
as  well  as  at  any  other  imaginable  time,  came,  for  him,  the 
end.  In  a  fight  with  the  natives,  the  occasion  of  which  is 
unknown,  the  great  sailor  was  killed.  Happier  than  Colum- 
bus, he  did  not  survive  the  mightiest  exploit  of  his  time. 

Barbosa  and  Serrano,  and  thirty  other  Spaniards,  were 
also  slain;  and  the  native  king  Sebu,  who  had  embraced 
Christianity  under  the  impression  that  it  would  give  him  the 
victory  over  his  hereditary  enemy  the  king  of  Matan,  now 
renounced  it  and  returned  to  the  gods  of  his  fathers.  The 


THE   CABOTS,  VESPUCIUS,  AND   MAGELLAN  85 

survivors  of  the  massacre  set  sail,  one  hundred  and  fifteen 
out  of  the  original  two  hundred  and  eighty;  and  the  "Con- 
cepcion"  was  destroyed  as  unseaworthy.  Only  the  "Vic- 
toria" and  the  "Trinidad"  remained  to  round  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope  on  the  homeward  voyage.  The  "Trinidad" 
met  with  new  misfortunes,  and  the  little  "Victoria"  alone 
kept  on.  She  reached  the  Cape  Verde  Islands  on  July  13th, 
but  would  have  been  arrested  there  by. the  Portuguese  au- 
thorities had  she  not  spread  her  sails  and  run  for  it.  Finally, 
on  September  6th,  she  entered  the  Guadalquivir,  with  but 
eighteen  survivors  of  "the  greatest  feat  of  navigation  that 
has  ever  been  performed ;  and  nothing  can  be  imagined  that 
would  surpass  it  except  a  journey  to  some  other  planet." 
What  a  picture — those  eighteen  sea-worn  mariners,  in  their 
battered  craft !  what  a  poem  .is  their  story !  what  an  event 
in  the  history  of  mankind! 

What  reward  did  Magellan  have?  None  that  mortal 
hands  could  bestow.  He  was  dead;  and  his  wife* and  son 
had  also  died.  Elcano,  one  of  the  ship's  company,  was  given 
a  crest  with  the  legend  on  a  terrestrial  globe,  "Primus  cir- 
cumdedisti  me,"  together  with  a  pension  of  five  hundred 
ducats;  and  Espinosa  was  likewise  pensioned  and  ennobled. 
But  every  mariner  who  sails  the  seas  knows  the  name  of 
Magellan,  and  the  story  of  his  exploit ;  and  mankind  accords 
him  the  honor  which  Spain  could  not  bestow.  Of  all  the 
great  explorers,  he  is  perhaps  the  one  whose  character  and 
deeds  we  can  contemplate  with  the  most  unalloyed  satis- 
faction. 

Even  yet  the  true  magnitude  of  the  Pacific  was  not 
comprehended.  In  1533  Schoner,  the  geographer,  placed 
Florida  and  Newfoundland  in  Asia,  and  called  the  city  of 
Mexico  Quinsay.  The  longitude  of  the  Moluccas  was  un- 
certain; some  fixed  it  in  one  place;  others,  at  a  thousand 
miles'  distance  therefrom.  The  "Congress  of  Badajos,"  con- 
sisting of  geographers  and  other  experts,  convened  to  settle 
the  Meridian  dispute,  but  parted  after  two  months'  acri- 
monious debate  without  settling  anything.  But  Charles 


86  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

V.  at  length  cut  the  Gordian  Knot  by  selling  his  Molucca 
claim  to  Portugal  for  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  gold 
ducats.  The  Portuguese  were  in  the  custom  of  using  the 
African  route  to  their  possessions  in  the  East,  so  that  the 
Magellan  route  was  for  a  long  time  disused.  In  fact, 
the  first  sailor  to  revisit  the  southern  extremity  of  South 
America  was  Sir  Francis  Drake,  in  1578,  and  Cape  Horn 
was  not  doubled  until  1616.  The  voyage  across  the  Pacific 
was  held  to  be  too  long  for  practical  purposes.  Attempts 
were  now  begun  to  find  a  passage  by  the  northwest.  This 
search  was  kept  up  for  more  than  three  centuries,  though  all 
likely  rivers  along  the  American  coast-line,  south  or  north, 
were  carefully  explored  in  the  hope  of  finding  some  way 
through.  An  overland  journey  would  have  shown,  of 
course,  that  the  expectation  was  vain;  and  such  journeys, 
as  we  shall  see,  were  soon  to  be  made.  In  1524,  D'Ayllon 
tried  the  James  River  and  the  Chesapeake,  and  made  a 
settlement  near  the  present  site  of  Jamestown.  In  1528, 
Montesino  went  to  Venezuela,  and  was  never  again  heard 
of;  it  was  assumed  that  the  Indians  killed  him.  Gomez, 
and  after  him  Florin,  sailed  along  the  North  American  coasts 
in  subsequent  years.  In  1529,  a  map  was  published  show- 
ing a  sea  separated  from  the  Atlantic  by  only  a  very  narrow 
width  of  land.  In  1536,  Agnese's  map  shears  off  a  great 
breadth  of  terra  firma  on  the  west  coast  of  South  America. 
In  1548,  Gastaldi  made  Florida  and  Mexico  parts  of  Asia, 
after  the  theory  of  Orontius.  Other  maps  made  other  errors, 
and  it  was  evident  that  imagination  would  not  solve  the 
problem. 

In  1528,  Narvaez  headed  an  expedition  into  Mexico;  they 
were  lost  there,  and  a  remnant  of  them  reached  the  mouths 
of  the  Mississippi,  and  were  afterward  handed  about  by  In- 
dians in  the  wilds  of  Louisiana  and  Texas.  FinaUy,  they 
came  out  on  the  Gulf  of  California  and  descended  to  Culiacan 
in  1536,  after  a  land  journey  of  two  thousand  miles.  Cortes 
had  at  this  time  already  explored  Lower  California.  This 
led  to  further  trips  into  the  interior  country ;  and  the  legend 


THE   CABOTS,  VESPUCIUS,  AND   MAGELLAN  87 

of  the  Seven  Cities  of  Antilia  was  made  to  do  duty  for  cer- 
tain hypothetical  cities  in  the  interior  of  the  continent.  It 
became  mixed  with  a  Nahuatl  story  of  Seven  Caves,  whence 
they  believed  their  ancestors  had  issued.  Fray  Marco,  a 
Franciscan  monk  of  experience  in  travel,  was  selected  to 
go  in  quest  of  these  cities.  He  was  accompanied  by  a  negro, 
Estevanico,  and  some  Indians,  and  they  were  well  received 
by  the  natives  in  the  early  part  of  their  journey.  Marco's 
instructions,  sent  him  by  Mendoza,  were  to  the  effect  that  he 
should  insist  upon  the  Spaniards  treating  the  Indians  well, 
and  not  subjecting  them  to  slavery ;  that  he  should  observe 
every  precaution  in  venturing  into  the  interior,  avoid  all 
personal  danger,  and  that  if  he  arrived  at  the  shore  of  the 
"Southern  Sea"  he  should  cut  a  cross  on  the  trunk  of  some 
conspicuous  tree  and  bury  records  at  the  foot  of  it,  for  the 
information  of  coastwise  explorers.  There  was  at  this  time 
a  settlement  of  Spaniards  at  Culiacan,  on  the  Mexican  coast, 
opposite  the  lower  extremity  of  Lower  California ;  and  it  was 
from  this  place  that  the  expedition  took  its  departure.  The 
negro,  Estevanico,  was  one  of  those  who  had  been  with  the 
Narvaez  party  years  before. 

They  went  north  toward  Sonora.  The  Indians  accom- 
panying them  were  of  the  Pima  tribe.  The  party  kept  as 
near  the  coast  as  possible ;  but,  after  progressing  some  four 
hundred  miles,  halted  at  Bacapa,  near  the  present  Arizona 
boundary,  and  the  town  of  Metape.  This  was  in  Easter, 
1539,  about  a  mouth  after  the  start.  From  Bacapa,  Marco 
sent  Estevanico  forward,  with  orders  to  go  fifty  or  sixty 
leagues  north,  sending  him  back  messengers  from  time  to 
time  with  information  of  his  progress.  With  each  despatch 
was  to  be  sent  a  cross  of  white  wood,  and  the  more  favor- 
able his  progress  was,  the  larger  the  cross  should  be.  The 
first  messenger  returned  in  four  days,  bearing  a  cross  six 
feet  in  height,  and  "telling  of  such  wonderful  things  that 
I  would  not  believe  them  unless  I  saw  the  things  myself," 
says  Marco.  "The  Indian  told  me  that  it  was  thirty  days' 
journey  from  the  place  where  Estevanico  was,  to  the  first 


88  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH   AMERICA 

city  of  the  country,  which  was  called  Cibola.  He  affirmed 
and  maintained  that  this  first  province  contained  seven  very 
large  cities  which  were  all  subject  to  one  lord.  In  them 
were  large  houses  of  stone  and  mortar,  the  smallest  of  which 
were  one  story  high,  with  a  terrace,  and  there  were  besides 
two  and  three  story  buildings.  The  chief's  house  was  of 
four  stories.  There  were  many  decorations  at  the  entrance 
of  the  principal  houses,  and  turquoises,  which  were  very 
plentiful  in  that  country.  The  people  of  these  cities  were 
very  well  clothed."  Marco  seems  to  have  had  some  doubts 
of  the  negro's  veracity;  but  when  the  tales  were  confirmed 
by  Indians  from  the  coast,  he  determined  to  set  out,  and 
two  days  after  Easter  he  was  on  his  way  to  the  "Seven 
Cities." 

The  word  Cibola,  or  words  resembling  it,  are  found  in 
both  the  Pima  and  the  Opata  languages.  In  the  idiom 
of  the  northern  Pimas  the  ruins  on  the  southern  bank  of 
the  Rio  Gila,  generally  known  as  Casa  Grande,  are  called 
Civano-qi — the  house  of  Civano.  Before  the  coming  of  the 
Spaniards,  the  Pimas  lived  in  permanent  houses  grouped 
in  small  villages  on  the  banks  of  the  middle  Giia.  Casa 
Grande  is  the  ruins  of  the  best-known  of  these  villages.  The 
ruins  lie  a  hundred  miles  west  of  San  Carlos ;  and  the  above 
estimate  of  "thirty  days'  journey"  may  therefore  fit  them, 
for  the  country  is  mountainous  and  broken.  But  the  first 
description  of  Cibola  given  by  the  Indians  does  not  fit  the 
stair-like  style  of  building  of  the  pueblos,  but  such  architect- 
are  as  that  of  Casa  Grande  and  elsewhere.  The  principal 
building  of  Casa  Grande  is  not  stone,  but  adobe;  three 
stories  are  still  visible,  and  smaller  houses  of  one  story  are 
scattered  about.  Similar  buildings  existed  in  Sonora,  of 
which  the  Jesuit  de  Ribas  wrote,  "Their  houses  were  better 
and  more  solidly  built  than  those  of  other  nations,  for  the 
walls  consisted  of  large  air-dried  bricks  of  clay,  with  flat 
roofs  and  balconies.  Some  they  built  much  larger,  and 
inth  loopholes,  in  order  to  take  refuge  in  them  as  in  a  for- 
tress in  case  of  a  hostile  attack,  and  to  defend  themselves 


THE   CABOTS,  VESPUCIUS,  AND   MAGELLAN  89 

with  bows  and  arrows."     Such  a  place  seems  to  have  been 
Casa  Grande. 

But  at  the  time  of  the  expedition  of  Marco,  Casa  Grande 
must  have  been  a  ruin;  yet  the  reports  which  Estevanico 
sent  referred  to  a  still-inhabited  Indian  settlement.  Mr. 
Bandelier  made  a  journey  to  the  region  a  few  years  ago  to  • 
resolve  this  difficulty.  He  found  that  none  of  the  so-called 
pueblos  corresponds  with  what  is  known  to  us  of  Cibola. 
Therefore  he  concludes  that  Cibola  should  be  looked  for  to 
the  north,  either  in  Arizona  or  New  Mexico.  All  this  region 
was  in  the  sixteenth  century  controlled  by  a  single  linguistic 
stock — that  of  the  Apaches.  But  the  Apaches  being  a  wan- 
dering tribe,  which  builds  huts  of  branches  plastered  with 
mud,  gives  no  color  to  the  story  of  such  a  place  as  Cibola. 
The  areas  further  east  were  uninhabited.  But  about  thirty 
miles  from  the  borders  of  Arizona  a  small  river  flowing  from 
east  to  west  enters  a  wide  and  treeless  intervale,  fifteen  miles 
long  and  not  more  than  twelve  miles  wide.  This  is  the  plain 
of  Zuni.  On  the  southeastern  side  rises  an  isolated  table 
mountain  to  a  height  of  over  a  thousand  feet;  and  rocks 
everywhere  stand  wall-like  over  the  valley  and  only  a  few 
dizzy  paths  lead  to  the  summit.  Similar  colossal  rocks  tower 
upon  the  north  side.  The  name  of  Zuni  belongs  to  the  idiom 
of  the  Queres  of  the  Rio  Grande.  The  Zunis  call  themselves 
Shiuano,  which  bears  analogy  to  Cibola.  But  Marco's  ac- 
count is  deficient  in  geographical  data;  it  does  not  specify 
the  number  of  the  rivers,  or  their  volume,  nor  does  it  afford 
particulars  concerning  the  inhabitants.  It  is  possible  that 
he  continued  always  within  the  territory  of  the  Pimas. 
Estevanico  kept  sending  back  the  cross  signs,  thus  encour- 
aging the  monk  to  keep  on,  and  the  natives  described  Cibola 
in  ever  more  brilliant  colors.  They  spoke  of  provinces,  cities 
and  kingdoms;  told  of  green  stones  that  adorned  the  door- 
posts of  houses,  of  skins  of  a  large  cow-like  animal;  and 
altogether  gave  the  impression  that  there  was  a  great  and 
thriving  settlement  ahead.  Estevanico,  meanwhile,  was 
making  a  reputation  for  himself  as  a  medicine-man,  by  dint 


90  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

of  a  gourd-rattle  that  he  carried;  but  he  was  imprudent  in 
his  eagerness  for  precious  metals  and  green  stones,  and 
in  the  requisitions  he  made  for  women.  But  he  obtained 
numerous  guides  and  leaders,  and  his  progress  was  rapid. 

Having  crossed  the  Gila,  Marco  found  himself  entering 
an  uninhabited  country,  beyond  which  lay  Cibola.  By  mid- 
summer, the  Indians  assured  him  that  his  goal  was  but  a 
few  days  distant.  But  immediately  after  Indians  who  had 
been  with  Estevanico  came  running  into  camp,  with  tattered 
garments  and  evidences  of  fatigue  and  starvation.  Some 
serious  calamity  had  occurred.  The  people  of  Cibola  had 
killed  the  negro,  and  were  even  now  approaching  with  hos- 
tile intent.  Marco  questioned  the  fugitives  as  to  what  they 
had  seen  in  Cibola,  and  they  confirmed  what  he  had  already 
heard  of  it.  They  said  the  city  in  which  the  negro  had  been 
killed  was  only  one,  and  not  the  most  populous,  of  the  seven 
cities.  Marco  determined  to  steal  forward  with  a  few  at- 
tendants to  some  place  where  he  could  see  with  his  own  eyes 
what  manner  of  place  it  truly  was.  He  reached  a  hill 
whence  they  could  look  down  into  a  valley  where  lay  sev- 
eral villages,  with  unusually  large  houses  of  several  stories, 
built  of  clay  and  stone.  The  nearest  village,  seeming  as 
large  as  the  city  of  Mexico,  was  pointed  out  as  that  in  which 
the  negro  had  been  killed.  The  inhabitants  appeared  to  be 
clad  in  cotton.  After  setting  up  a  cross  on  the  spot  where 
he  had  made  these  observations,  Marco  returned  to  his  camp, 
and  the  retreat  was  forthwith  begun.  He  arrived  in  Culia- 
can  September  2,  1539,  and  sent  his  report  to  the  viceroy. 

Doubts  have  been  expressed  as  to  whether  Marco  ever 
really  saw  what  he  describes.  No  one  had  ever  come  upon 
any  tradition  among  the  Indians  of  such  a  march  as  Marco 
made,  or  of  the  death  of  the  negro,  until,  in  1884,  Mr.  Gush- 
ing, after  several  years'  residence  among  the  Zunis,  found 
traces  of  a  story  which  may  refer  to  Marco's  expedition. 
The  Zunis  told  him  that  a  "black  Mexican"  had  once  come 
to  O'aquima  and  had  been  hospitably  received;  but  he  soon 
incurred  mortal  hatred  by  his  behavior  toward  the  women 


THE   CABOTS,  VESPUCIUS,  AND  MAGELLAN  91 

and  girls  of  the  pueblo,  and  the  men  had  finally  killed  him. 
This  is  important  evidence.  The  hill  from  which  Marco  says 
that  he  looked  down  on  Cibola  could  have  been  nowhere  but 
in  the  southern  border  of  the  Zuni  plain,  for  it  is  only  from 
there  that  the  pueblo  of  O'aquima  can  be  seen,  at  a  distance 
of  about  two  miles.  And  on  this  hill,  till  a  few  years  ago, 
were  visible  the  remains  of  a  wooden  cross.  Mr.  Gushing 
also  discovered  that  the  openings  in  the  roofs  of  the  houses 
in  Zuni  used  formerly  to  be  decorated  with  green  stones, 
such  as  malachite,  and  turquoise.  Some  of  the  names  of 
kingdoms  and  provinces  which  Marco  gives  have  also  been 
identified  by  Gushing.  Upon  the  whole,  therefore,  it  seems 
reasonable  to  conclude  that  Marco  gave  a  true  report  of  his 
adventures,  and  that  they  occurred  in  the  valley  of  the  Zuni. 
At  all  events,  his  story  satisfied  Mendoza  that  the  matter 
was  worth  following  up,  and  he  organized,  a  new  expedition, 
to  the  leadership  of  which  he  appointed  Francisco  Vasquez 
Coronado. 

This  expedition  had  the  bulk  and  power  of  an  army;  it 
comprised  three  hundred  Spaniards  and  eight  hundred  In- 
dians. They  visited  the  Zuni  and  Moqui  pueblos,  discovered 
the  Canon  of  the  Colorado,  and  penetrated  as  far  north  as  to 
Quivira,  as  to  the  site  of  which  there  is  some  doubt.  But 
wherever  it  was,  it  disappointed  its  discoverers,  who  had 
expected  a  splendid  city,  and  found  only  a  village  of  wig- 
wams. Making  headquarters  here,  parties  were  sent  out 
in  all  directions;  but  nothing  worth  noting  was  found;  and 
in  1542  the  army  marched  back  to  the  Spanish  settlement 
whence  they  had  set  out  in  Mexico,  with  hard  feelings  against 
Marco,  who  had  inveigled  them  into  working  so  hard  for  no 
profit.  But  Marco  was  not  to  blame;  he  did  not  make 
America,  and  merely  told  his  impressions  of  what  he  saw, 
which  the  ardent  imagination  of  his  countrymen,  insatiable 
for  gold,  had  colored  to  suit  their  hopes. 

Coronado,  indeed,  had  offered  to  undertake  the  expedition 
at  his  own  expense.  Ho  was  then  a  young  man,  though  he 
had  filled  important  offices  in  Mexico.  Mendoza  agreed  to 
—  5 


92  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

despatch  a  contemporary  expedition  by  sea  from  Natividad, 
to  explore  the  northern  coast  and  the  interior  of  the  Cali- 
fornia gulf,  keeping  in  touch  with  Coronado's  expedition  by 
land.  The  cost  of  the  two  expeditions  amounted  to  what, 
in  present  money  values,  would  be  some  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  dollars.  For  this  sum,  Coronado  went  in  debt ; 
Mendoza  limited  his  co-operation  in  the  matter  to  appointing 
the  higher  officers.  Meanwhile,  a  supplementary  expedition 
under  Captain  Melc.hior  Diaz  was  sent  over  the  trail  made 
by  Marco,  with  orders  to  get  as  near  as  possible  to  Cibola. 
But  Diaz  did  not  get  further  than  the  borders  of  that  unin- 
habited region,  on  the  further  side  of  which  lay  the  Seven 
Cities.  The  name  of  the  place  where  he  halted  is  translated 
as  "Red  House."  It  is  described  as  being  over  two  hundred 
miles  south  of  Cibola.  This  has  been  identified  with  the 
ruins  of  Casa  Grande ;  but,  according  to  Mr.  Bandelier,  with- 
out due  foundation.  He  concludes,  by  a  process  of  exclu- 
sion, that  the  Red  House  was  situated  in  the  southeastern 
corner  of  Arizona,  and  within  a  quadrangle  which  is  bounded 
on  the  east  by  New  Mexico,  on  the  west  by  the  Rio  San 
Pedro,  on  the  south  by  Sonora,  and  on  the  north  by  the 
Gila  River. 

As  to  Coronado,  after  reaching  Culiacan,  he  divided  his 
force,  and  with  a  small  party  set  out  toward  the  north.  He 
moved  rapidly  through  the  valley  of  the  Sonora  River,  his 
relations  with  the  natives  being  amicable.  His  precise  course 
is  not  certainly  ascertained ;  but  in  due  time  he  arrived  at 
what  was  doubtless  the  plain  of  Zufii.  At  Cibola  he  arrived 
on  the  12th  of  July.  The  inhabitants  of  the  towns  were 
assembled  to  prevent  his  further  passage,  and  returned  a 
threatening  reply  to  his  friendly  messages.  But  the  Indians 
fled  from  the  charge  of  the  Spanish  horse,  and  the  pueblo 
was  captured  in  an  hour.  Thus,  with  about  a  fifth  part 
of  the  forces  which  he  had  raised,  Coronado  conquered  the 
Seven  Cities  of  Cibola.  But  when  the  value  of  their  prize 
came  to  be  examined,  it  was  found  to  be  not  worth  the 
sweat,  still  less  the  blood,  which  it  had  cost.  Marco,  who 


SOUTH  AMERICAN  INDIANS 


Spanish  America. 


THE   CABOTS,  VESPUCIUS,  AND   MAGELLAN  93 

had  accompanied  the  expedition,  was  in  danger  of  his  life 
from  the  Spanish  soldiers;  he  returned  with  the  messenger 
whom  Coronado  sent  back,  and  died  in  Mexico  in  1558. 
While  these  things  were  going  on,  Maldonado,  who  was 
in  command  of  a  part  of  the  bulk  of  the  army,  went  down 
to  the  coast  to  look  up  the  ships,  but  failed  to  find  them. 
Two  hundred  and  seventy  men  in  all  went  forward  to  join 
Coronado,  and  it  was  with  this  force  that  his  subsequent 
operations  were  conducted.  Diaz,  who  had  been  left  with 
the  rearguard,  took  twenty-six  men  and  discovered  the 
great  Colorado  River,  but  no  details  of  his  adventure  are 
forthcoming. 

Coronado  had  to  do  something,  and  the  accountb  he  re- 
ceived from  the  country  further  north  made  him  hope  that 
perhaps  the  wealth  he  had  missed  in  Cibola  might  await 
him  there.  The  consequence  of  this  persuasion  was  the 
exploration  of  New  Mexico.  Alvarado  was  sent  forward 
to  the  Pecos  country,  where  he  met  a  strange  Indian  whom 
the  Spaniards  called  a  "Turk"  on  account  of  his  strange 
appearance.  He  was  a  native  of  the  Mississippi  Valley; 
and  he  informed  the  Spaniards  that  gold  was  to  be  found 
in  abundance  toward  the  east.  Alvarado  communicated 
this  news  to  his  commander;  but  in  the  sequel  it  proved 
false;  and  the  "Turk"  had  perhaps  given  it  out  in  order 
to  secure  his  own  return  to  his  native  country.  Still,  it  is 
possible  that  he  may  have  told  what  he  meant  to  be  sub- 
stantially the  truth,  but  the  Spaniards  misunderstood  him. 
Through  his  means,  Coronado  became  embroiled  with  the 
Tigua  Indians,  and  lost  several  men  and  horses  in  the  little 
war  which  followed.  In  return,  he  massacred  the  prisoners 
whom  he  captured  in  the  pueblos.  His  situation  became  in 
consequence  somewhat  critical;  but  he  managed  to  retain 
the  friendship  of  the  Pecos.  He  continued  his  explorations 
of  central  New  Mexico,  but  his  attention  was  fixed  upon  the 
east.  New  Mexico,  whatever  might  be  its  possibilities  under 
systematic  development,  was  evidently  not  likely  to  afford 
any  immediate  returns;  while  the  "Turk"  continued  to  talk 


94  HISTORY   OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

of  a  river  six  miles  wide,  with  fish  as  large  as  a  horse,  and 
of  canoes  with  forty  rowers,  their  bows  adorned  with  gold, 
and  he  declared  that  the  vessels  of  that  country  were  made 
of  silver  and  gold.  Quivira,  he  said,  was  the  headquarters 
of  all  these  riches,  and  he  offered  to  conduct  the  Spaniards 
thither.  Coronado  accepted  his  offer. 

It  was  in  May,  1541,  that  the  Spaniards  began  their 
march.  But  they  had  to  pass  over  boundless  plains,  with 
no  landmarks;  and  what  happens  to  individual  travellers 
in  such  circumstances  happened  to  them ;  they  described  a 
wide  circle,  and  after  several  months'  toil  found  themselves 
back  at  the  point  whence  they  started.  On  this  journey 
they  saw  for  the  first  time  herds  of  buffalo.  It  was  seven- 
teen days  after  leaving  the  Pecos  that  they  came  upon  the 
Indians  of  the  plains,  living  in  tents  of  buffalo  hide  and 
dressing  in  the  same ;  probably  these  were  Apaches.  They 
could  give  no  information  of  Quivira.  Further  along  an- 
other tribe  was  encountered,  perhaps  Utes.  They  had  some- 
thing to  tell  of  Quivira,  but  knew  nothing  of  the  gold  and 
other  riches  which  the  Turk  had  described.  The  Turk  fi- 
nally admitted  that  he  had  lied  about  the  stone  houses,  but 
adhered  to  his  assertion  concerning  the  gold.  He  was  put  in 
chains,  and  continued  the  march  in  that  condition.  Thirst 
attacked  the  expedition ;  men  were  daily  lost  by  wandering 
from  the  camp;  and  Quivira,  according  to  the  Indians,  vras 
still  forty  days  distant.  Coronado,  however,  was  unwilling 
to  turn  back  without  having  made  a  final  effort  to  find  the 
place,  and  leaving  the  bulk  of  his  command  behind,  he,  with 
some  thirty  horsemen,  set  forward  in  the  specified  direction. 
The  Turk  accompanied  him.  Arrelano  was  left  in  charge 
of  the  main  body ;  but  after  fifteen  days  he  began  a  retreat. 
Meanwhile  Coronado  went  directly  north  for  thirty  days, 
until  they  came  to  a  river  which  seems  to  have  been  the 
Arkansas,  at  the  point  called  the  Great  Bend.  This  would 
indicate  that  Quivira  must  have  been  about  a  hundred  miles 
north  of  the  Arkansas.  Coronado  arrived  there  on  the  21st 
of  August.  "I  had  been  told,"  he  says,  "that  the  houses 


THE   CABOTS,  VESPUCIUS,  AND   MAGELLAN  95 

were  made  of  stone  and  several  storeyed ;  they  are  only  made 
of  straw,  and  the  inhabitants  are  as  savage  as  any  I  have 
seen.  They  have  no  clothes,  nor  cotton  to  make  them  of; 
they  simply  tan  the  hides  of  cows  which  they  hunt,  and 
which  pasture  around  their  village. "  There  were  no  signs 
of  gold  or  silver;  only  a  few  iron  pyrites  and  bits  of  copper. 
The  Turk  now  confessed  that  the  Pueblo  In'dians  had  en- 
gaged him  to  draw  the  Spaniards  into  the  plains,  that  they 
might  perish  there.  He  attempted  to  stir  up  the  people  of 
Quivira  against  the  Spaniards;  upon  which  the  latter  seized 
and  hanged  him.  Such  was  the  end  of  this  singular  and  still 
somewhat  questionable  being. 

Coronado  found  the  country  of  Quivira  fertile;  but  win- 
ter was  at  hand,  and  he  must  retreat.  They  accomplished 
the  return  journey  without  accident  in  forty  days,  reach- 
ing the  Pecos  Valley  late  in  October.  Thence  Coronado 
continued  on  to  Bernalillo,  whence  he  wrote  his  report 
to  Charles  V. 

In  spite  of  his  account  of  the  failure  to  find  gold,  the 
Spaniards  could  not  believe  but  that  wealth  lay  somewhere 
in  the  further  interior;  and  a  new  expedition,  not  entirely 
to  Coronado's  satisfaction,  was  planned  in  that  direction. 
But  shortly  before  it  was  ready  to  start,  Coronado  was  in- 
jured while  jousting,  by  a  fall  from  his  horse;  and  before 
he  had  recovered,  news  came  of  the  massacre  of  a  nearby 
Spanish  settlement.  Coronado  now  wished  to  return  to 
Mexico,  and,  though  not  without  disagreements,  it  was 
finally  decided  to  do  so.  A  few  priests  only,  desirous  of 
winning  souls  rather  than  gold,  were  left  behind.  Of  these, 
Fray  Juan  de  Padilla  was  afterward  murdered  by  the  In- 
dians, and  joined  the  army  of  martyrs.  Coronado,  who 
seems  to  have  lost  the  power  of  command  which  had  dis- 
tinguished him  before  his  accident,  moved  constantly  south- 
ward, suffering  from  Indian  attacks,  and  from  internal  quar- 
rels. By  the  time  Mexico  was  reached,  hardly  a  hundred 
soldiers  remained  with  their  leader ;  all  the  rest  had  either 
been  killed  or  had  dropped  away.  Mendoza  received  Coro- 


96  HISTORY   OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

nado  with  hard  words,  and  the  latter  retired  to  Cuernavaca, 
and  there  died  in  retirement.  It  was  a  sad  ending  of  a  ca- 
reer which  had  opened  brilliantly.  "The  conception  which 
has  been  formed  of  Coronado  as  a  wicked  adventurer  is  un- 
just," says  Bandelier.  "Equally  wrong  and  unfounded  are 
the  accusations  which  Mendoza  formulated  against  him,  and 
on  the  ground  of  which  he  treated  the  knight  so  severely. 
The  following  are  the  reasons  which  are  assigned  by  which 
the  action  of  the  viceroy  was  determined :  first,  while  Alar  - 
con  wrote  with  the  fullest  detail  in  his  reports,  the  letters  of 
Coronado  were  short,  and  therefore  unsatisfactory;  second, 
Coronado  also  wrote  directly  to  the  emperor  and  king 
(Charles  V.),  which  the  viceroy  considered  a  presumption 
on  his  part,  and  even  as  bordering  on  treason;  third,  his 
evacuation  of  New  Mexico  and  return  seemed  at  least  a 
gross  violation  of  duty,  for  it  was  ascribed  to  disobedience, 
incapacity,  and  cowardice.  But  Mendoza  understood  none 
of  the  conditions;  with  all  the  traits  for  which  he  was  dis- 
tinguished, he  was  first  of  all  a  European  officer,  who,  how- 
ever ably  he  could  direct  from  his  desk,  had  no  comprehen- 
sion of  American  camp-life.  .  .  .  Respecting  the  evacuation 
of  New  Mexico,  there  was  no  cowardice.  Coronado's  words, 
and  the  result  of  the  expedition  to  Quivira,  with  homesick- 
ness and  a  weakened  bodily  condition,  probably  contributed 
much  to  a  discouragement  which  was  based  on  the  convic- 
tion that  the  country  was  not  worth  the  effort  which  its 
control  would  cost."  It  may  be  added  that  it  has  always 
been  the  policy  of  Spain  to  cast  the  blame  for  inevitable 
misfortunes  on  the  men  whom  she  had  put  forward  to 
carry  out  impossible  schemes.  And  when  we  consider 
what  might  have  been  the  results  to  the  continent  had  the 
Spaniards  found  it  expedient  to  continue  the  conquest  of  the 
northern  parts  of  America,  we  may  believe  that  it  was  a 
beneficent  Providence  which  prevented  Coronado  from  obey- 
ing the  wishes  of  his  superior.  It  is  true,  nevertheless,  that 
the  legend  of  Quivira  continued  for  a  long  time  to  exercise 
fascination  over  the  Spanish  mind,  and  other  expeditions 


THE   CABOTS,  VESPUCIUS,  AND  MAGELLAN  97 

were  sent  out  from  time  to  time,  with  no  better  success 
than  that  of  Coronado.  Spanish  missions  gradually  were 
scattered  over  the  southwestern  country,  and  Spaniards 
thinly  settled  the  great  expanses;  but  the  gold  which  they 
sought  was  hidden  from  them,  and  not  until  after  our  Mexi- 
can war  did  the  discovery  of  the  precious  metal  in  California 
prove  that  the  wildest  dreams  of  the  Spaniards  were  sur- 
passed by  the  actual  facts.  There  was  no  golden  city  of 
Quivira,  and  no  wealthy  Seven  Cities  of  Cibola ;  but  under 
the  soil  of  that  western  land  lay  concealed  such  riches  as 
would  have  made  Spain  the  terror  and  tyrant  of  the  world, 
instead  of  lapsing,  as  she  has  done,  into  the  lowest  place  in 
the  scale  of  European  nations. 

In  tracing  the  course  of  the  Spaniards  north  of  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico  and  westward  to  the  Pacific,  we  have  far  outrun 
the  chronological  sequence  of  our  history ;  but  before  turn- 
ing back  to  consider  the  conquests  of  Mexico  and  Peru,  and 
the  occupation  of  the  Central  American  region,  we  will 
briefly  follow  the  progress  of  events  in  the  peninsula  of 
Florida.  In  1537,  Fernando  de  Soto,  who  had  already 
served  in  Peru  under  Pizarro  (as  we  shall  see  hereafter), 
was  made  governor  of  Cuba,  and  two  years  afterward  he  set 
out,  with  nine  ships,  containing  five  hundred  and  seventy 
men  and  two  hundred  and  twenty-three  horses,  to  conquer 
and  occupy  the  country  under  the  patent  of  Narvaez.  He 
landed  near  the  bay  of  Juan  Ponce,  and  marched  in  a 
northerly  direction,  through  the  region  now  occupied  by 
the  States  of  Alabama  and  Georgia,  toward  the  Savannah 
River.  Thence  he  turned  westward,  finding  no  gold,  but 
plenty  of  hostile  Indians.  Near  Mobile,  in  1541,  he  lost 
one  hundred  and  seventy  men  in  a  fight.  He  wintered  on 
the  Yazoo  River  in  Mississippi,  crossing  the  Mississippi 
River  in  the  spring,  and  going  up  its  western  bank  for 
some  distance.  Finding  nothing,  he  turned  south  again, 
and  De  Soto  died  in  M.ay  and  was  buried  in  the  river.  His 
men.  coasted  along  the  shores  of  the  gulf,  reaching  Tampico, 
about  three  hundred  strong,  in  September,  1543.  Three 


9b  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

years  later,  an  attempt  by  Barbastro  to  found  a  missionary 
settlement  in  Florida  resulted  in  a  massacre  by  the  Indians. 
Others  renewed  the  effort  with  little  better  success;  and  in 
1561,  Philip  II.  announced  that  there  must  be  no  further 
attempts  to  colonize  that  country.  Nevertheless,  the  Span- 
iards were  compelled  to  reconsider  this  decision  by  the  atti- 
tude of  the  French.  Coligny,  in  1555,  sent  out  a  Protestant 
colony  under  Villegagnon  to  Brazil,  which  landed  at  Rio  de 
Janeiro,  and  was  reinforced  two  years  later.  But  internal 
dissensions  ruined  the*enterprise,  and  the  Portuguese  slaugh- 
tered the  remnant  of  the  colonists.  Coligny  now  decided  to 
try  the  coast  of  Florida,  and  in  1562  Ribaut,  a  Huguenot, 
came  to  the  St.  John's  River,  and  finally  settled  at  Port 
Royal.  The  Indians  were  at  first  friendly,  and  supplied 
them  with  food,  and  Ribaut  went  back  to  France  for  more 
settlers,  leaving  thirty  men  in  the  fort.  The  Indians  ceased 
after  a  while  to  feed  them,  they  mutinied,  and  killed  theii 
commander;  and,  after  much  suffering,  built  a  boat  and  set 
out  for  France.  They  ran  out  of  provisions,  and  had  eaten 
one  of  their  own  number  before  they  were  picked  up  by  an 
English  vessel.  In  spite  of  these  discouragements,  a  new 
expedition  started  in  1563,  under  Laudonniere,  a  kinsman 
of  Coligny.  This  colony  was  large  and  well  supplied.  But 
there  were  no  farmers  in  the  company,  though  there  were 
plenty  of  aristocrats  and  some  mechanics.  They  built  a  fort 
at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  John's,  and  called  it  Fort  Caroline. 
They  -searched  for  gold,  intrigued  with  Indian  chiefs,  be- 
came mutinous,  and  at  last  took  to  buccaneering.  Some 
of  them  were  captured  by  Spaniards  and  taken  to  Havana, 
where  they  revealed  the  existence  of  the  Fort  Caroline  set- 
tlement. Menendez,  a  typical  Spanish  butcher,  was  sent 
by  Philip  II.  to  uproot  these  heretical  interlopers,  though 
there  was  at  that  time  peace  between  France  and  Spain. 
He  left  Cadiz  with  eleven  ships  and  over  one  thousand  men. 
Before  he  could  reach  Fort  Caroline,  however,  Ribaut  got 
there  with  seven  ships,  three  hundred  men,  and  supplies. 
A  week  afterward  appeared  Menendez  with  his  fleet,  or  with 


THE   CABOTS,  VESPUCIUS,  AND  MAGELLAN  99 

what  was  left  of  it,  for  several  ships  had  been  wrecked.  The 
Spaniard  decided  not  to  risk  an  attack  at  once,  and  went 
down  the  coast  to  St.  Augustine.  His  presence  there  being 
communicated  to  the  French,  they  sent  their  whole  fleet  after 
him  to  surprise  him;  but  a  storm  arose,  and  before  it  sub- 
sided all  the  ships  had  been  wrecked.  Meanwhile,  Menendez 
assumed  the  offensive;  .he  made  a  forced  march  along  the 
coast  with  five  hundred  cutthroats,  and,  in  spite  of  a  furious 
storm,  forced  his  way  through  swamp  and  forest,  for  two 
and  seventy  hours,  till  the  fort  lay  before  him.  In  the  dim 
of  the  rainy  dawn,  down  upon  it  they  came;  the  defences 
were  too  weak  to  withstand  them,  and  though  Laudonniere 
and  a  few  others  escaped,  one  hundred  and  forty-two  men, 
women  and  children  were  slaughtered  in  cold  blood  on  the 
spot.  Meanwhile  two  hundred  survivors  of  Ribaut's  ship- 
wrecked crews  collected  on  the  beach,  and  marched  for  the 
fort.  Menendez  spoke  them  fair,  inveigled  them  across  the 
river,  told  them  that  the  fort  had  been  captured,  and  pre- 
vailed on  them  to  surrender.  Having  delivered  up  their 
arms  upon  promise  of  clemency,  they  were  led  out  behind  a 
sand-hill,  and  all  murdered.  A  few  days  later  came  Ribaut 
himself  with  the  remainder  of  his  men,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
of  whom  were  seduced  to  their  death  in  the  same  way,  Ribaut 
among  them ;  the  others  took  to  the  woods.  The  survivors, 
or  some  of  them,  returned  to  France  and  told  their  story; 
Menendez  told  his  to  King  Philip,  and  the  two  were  substan- 
tially the  same.  Philip  thanked  and  rewarded  his  butcher, 
only  blaming  him  for  having  been  too  humane.  It  is  from 
examples  like  these  that  the  Spanish  captains  of  to-day  learn 
their  trade.  The  river  or  inlet  where  the  massacre  occurred 
was  called  Matanzas,  which  in  Spanish  means  Slaughtering. 
There  were  no  further  attempts  to  colonize  Florida  with 
Huguenots.  But  the  incident  did  not  go  entirely  unavenged, 
though  it  was  a  private  gentleman,  and  not  the  French  gov- 
ernment, who  inflicted  the  punishment. 

Dominique  de  Gourgues  was  a  Gascon  gentleman  of  dis- 
tinction in  the  wars;   he  bore  a  grudge  against  Spaniards, 


100  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

owing  to  their  having  at  one  time  made  him  a  galley-slave. 
"When  he  heard  of  the  massacre  by  Menendez,  he  bethought 
himself  that  here  was  a  good  opportunity  to  pay  off  his  own 
score  and  that  of  France  at  the  same  time.  He  raised  what 
money  he  could  by  selling  and  borrowing,  bought  three  ships, 
and  with  two  hundred  men  sailed,  first,  on  a  slave-hunting 
expedition  to  the  Guinea  coast.  This  was  a  feint  on  his 
part.  It  was  not  until  he  was  near  Cuba  with  his  cargo 
that  he  acquainted  his  men  with  the  true  purpose  he  had  in 
view;  which  they  indorsed  with  enthusiasm.  They  anchored 
off  the  Florida  coast  a  few  miles  above  the  fort;  and  were  re- 
ceived by  the  Indians,  who  had  become  hostile  to  Menendez, 
with  delight ;  and  Gourgues  found  himself  with  so  large  a 
force  at  his  disposal  that  he  resolved  to  put  his  little  plan  in 
execution  at  once.  The  Spaniards,  little  thinking  that  there 
was  an  enemy  within  three  thousand  miles  of  them,  were 
taking  things  easy,  in  child-like  confidence.  There  were 
four  hundred  of  them.  At  noon,  having  finished  their  din- 
ner, they  were  expanding  themselves  as  good  men  will  after 
having  done  their  duty  by  their  stomachs,  when  suddenly, 
from  all  sides  at  once,  at  them  came  shouting  and  shooting 
innumerable  Indians  and,  terrible  to  behold! — Frenchmen! 
Wild  panic  followed,  amid  which  the  enemy  poured  over 
the  fortifications,  killing  as  they  came.  Not  a  man  escaped 
alive  except  some  fifteen,  who  were  reserved  by  Gourgues 
for  a  bonne  bouche.  He  conducted  them  to  certain  trees, 
on  which,  after  the  Menendez  massacre,  sundry  surviving 
French  prisoners  had  been  hanged,  with  an  inscription  above 
them,  "Not  as  to  Frenchmen,  but  as  to  Lutherans."  While 
his  followers  were  tying  slip-knots  in  fifteen  ropes,  the  worthy 
Gascon  talked  severely  to  his  captives,  pointing  out  the  errors 
of  which  they  had  been  guilty;  then  the  rope  collars  were 
fitted  snugly  to  the  Spanish  necks,  and  at  the  word  of  com- 
mand upward  into  the  air  they  all  rose,  sprawling  amain. 
The  trees  bowed  under  their  welcome  fruit;  and  over  the 
heads  of  the  now  quiescent  warriors  the  Frenchman  affixed 
a  shingle  bearing  the  legend,  "Not  as  to  Spaniards,  but  as 


THE   CABOTS,  VESPUCIUS,  AND  MAGELLAN  101 

to  liars  and  murderers. ' '  The  affair  would  have  been  poeti- 
cally cerf ect  but  for  one  omission — Menendez  himself  was  not 
among  the  danglers.  He  had  gone  back  to  Spain  on  a  visit, 
and  did  not  return  till  two  years  later,  when  he  rebuilt  his 
fort  and,  as  Professor  Fiske  has  it,  went  on  "converting  the 
Indians. "  But  the  Spaniards  never  tried  to  go  beyond  Florida 
in  their  subsequent  American  settlements. 

With  the  French  and  English  exploring  achievements  on 
the  North  Atlantic  coasts,  and  up  the  shores  of  California 
and  Oregon;  and  with  the  discovery  by  Bering  the  Dane 
of  the  Strait  between  Alaska  and  Siberia  which  bears  his 
name;  and  with  the  settlement  of  the  Mississippi  Valley, 
we  have  nothing  to  do  in  this  history.  It  was  these  things 
which  finally,  after  the  doubts  of  two  centuries,  determined 
America  to  be  a  distinct  continent.  But  Spain  kept  to  the 
south ;  the  northern  regions  were  spared  from  her  pernicious 
influence.  Up  to  1570  her  colonizing  energy  was  unremit- 
ting; but  after  that  date  she  undertook  to  supplement  the 
work  of  massacre  and  robbery  in  America,  by  destroying 
the  liberties  of  man  in  Europe;  and  her  preoccupation  with 
the  United  Netherlands  forced  her  to  relinquish  her  godly 
efforts  in  the  New  World.  The  French  seized  Hispaniola, 
the  English,  Jamaica,  and  other  West  Indian  islands  were 
otherwise  distributed.  The  long  struggle  with  the  Nether- 
lands ended  with  the  defeat  of  Spain ;  but  all  these  reverses 
failed  to  teach  the  Spaniards  civilization.  They  had  been  a 
rude  and  semi-barbarous  people  before  the  Moors  conquered 
them  in  the  eighth  century;  and  the  eight  hundred  years 
of  desultory  warfare  which  followed  made  them  a  nation 
of  instinctive  murderers  and  robbers.  The  Catholic  re- 
ligion became  in  their  hands  a  pretext  for  further  indul- 
gence in  these  characteristic  practices.  Labor  and  industry 
were  almost  unknown  in  the  peninsula.  Their  isolated  po- 
sition prevented  the  refining  influences  of  the  rest  of  Europe 
from  reaching  them.  The  destruction  of  the  Armada 
"by  England,  in  1588,  was  the  beginning  of  the  ruin  of 
Spain.  Portugal  had  been  subjected  to  Spain  some  years 


102  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

before  this,  and  the  Dutch,  who  were  at  war  with  Spain, 
were  consequently  free  to  attack  the  Portuguese  colonies  in 
the  East  Indies,  and  to  take  possession  of  the  best  of  them. 
The  expulsion  from  Spain  of  the  only  decent  and  industrious 
classes  there — the  Moriscoes  and  Jews — additionally  injured 
the  doomed  nation,  making  impossible  the  recuperation  which 
might  otherwise  have  set  in.  The  Inquisition  burned  at  the 
stake  about  eight  hundred  persons  a  year,  for  three  hundred 
years.  As  Professor  Fiske  remarks,  "We  sometimes  hear  it 
said  that  persecution  cannot  kill  a  good  cause,  but  that  'the 
blood  of  the  martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the  church.'  This  is  apt 
to  be  true,  because  it  is  seldom  that  sufficient  unanimity  of 
public  opinion  is  enlisted  in  support  of  persecution  to  make 
it  thorough.  It  was  not  true  in  Spain.  The  Inquisition 
there  did  suppress  free  thought  most  effectually.  It  \vas 
a  machine  for  winnowing  out  and  destroying  all  such  in- 
dividuals as  surpassed  the  average  in  quickness  of  wit,  ear- 
nestness of  purpose,  and  strength  of  character,  in  so  far  as 
to  entertain  opinions  of  their  own  and  boldly  declare  them. 
The  more  closely  people  approached  an  elevated  standard 
of  intelligence  and  moral  courage,  the  more  likely  was  the 
machine  to  reach  them.  It  worked  with  such  fiendish  effi- 
ciency that  it  was  next  to  impossible  for  such  people  to 
escape  it ;  they  were  strangled  and  burned  by  tens  of  thou- 
sands, and  as  the  inevitable  result,  the  average  character  of 
the  Spanish  people  was  lowered.  The  brightest  and  boldest 
were  cut  off  in  their  early  prime,  while  duller  and  weaker 
ones  were  spared  to  propagate  the  race ;  until  the  Spaniard 
of  the  eighteenth  century  was  a  much  less  intelligent  and 
less  enterprising  person  than  the  Spaniard  of  the  sixteenth. 
Ideas  and  methods  which  other  nations  were  devising  to 
meet  the  new  exigencies  of  modern  life  were  denied  admis- 
sion to  this  unfortunate  country.  Spain  was  soon  left  be- 
hind by  nations  in  which  the  popular  intelligence  was  more 
flexibly  wielded.  It  was  not  in  religious  matters  only,  but 
in  all  the  affairs  of  life.  Amid  the  general  stagnation,  the 
stream  of  gold  and  silver  poured  into  Spain  from  the  New 


THE    CABOTS,  VESPUCIUS,  AND   MAGELLAN  103 

World  did  more  harm  than  good,  inasmuch  as  its  chief  effect 
was  to  diminish  the  purchasing  power  of  the  precious  metals. 
Spanish  expenditure  was  not  productive  but  unproductive, 
and  not  simply  unproductive  but  destructive.  It  was  devoted 
to  checking  the  activities  of  the  human  mind,  to  doing  pre- 
cisely the  reverse  of  what  we  are  trying  to  do  in  these  days 
with  books  and  newspapers,  schools  and  lectures,  copyrights 
and  patents.  .  .  .  When  we  contrast  the  elastic  buoy- 
ancy of  spirit  in  Shakespeare's  England  with  the  gloom  and 
heaviness  that  were  then  creeping  over  Spain,  we  find  noth- 
ing strange  in  the  fact  that  the  most  populous  and  powerful 
nations  of  the  New  World  speak  English  and  not  Spanish. 
Not  the  least  interesting  circumstance  connected  with  the 
discovery  of  this  broad  continent  is  the  fact  that  the  struggle 
for  the  possession  of  it  has  revealed  the  superior  vitality  of 
institutions  and  methods  that  first  came  to  maturity  in 
England  and  now  seem  destined  to  shape  the  future  of 
the  world." 

Recent  events  have  but  added  weight  to  the  Professor's 
judgments.  Spain  no  longer  exists  in  the  Western  Hemi- 
sphere; and  with  her  departure  begins  the  era  of  hope  and 
progress  for  the  colonies  which  she  created  and  cursed. 
Whether  they  will  be  able  to  work  out  their  salvation  re- 
mains to  be  proved.  So  far,  it  must  be  admitted  that  the 
signs  of  success  are  few  and  doubtful.  The  Spanish- Ameri- 
can peoples  are  still  men  of  Spanish  blood;  this  strain  has 
been  admixed  with  negro  and  Indian  races;  but  though 
these  are  superior,  in  themselves,  to  the  Spanish,  they  seem 
to  have  suffered  from  the  mingling.  The  little  nations  of  the 
Isthmus  and  of  South  America  grasp  at  the  name  of  liberty 
and  independence,  but  all  they  have  so  far  obtained  (with 
insignificant  and  temporary  exceptions)  has  been  tyranny 
and  license.  Perhaps  the  best  sign  of  all  is,  that  the  breed 
does  not  seem  to  increase,  and  may  gradually  die  out,  and 
leave  its  inheritance  to  men  who  will  know  how  to  ad- 
minister it  wisely  and  profitably.  "The  horse  is  his  who 
rides  it." 


104  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

We  are  now  to  turn  back  on  our  tracks,  and  recount  the 
events  which  domiciled  the  Spaniards  in  the  New  World, 
and  ushered  in  her  colonial  empire.  We  left  her  beginning 
the  wholesale  massacres  of  the  natives  of  the  West  India 
islands,  and  groping  along  the  coasts  for  gold.  Adventures 
occurred,  and  adventurers  played  their  parts,  in  a  manner 
which  yields  brilliant  and  dramatic  material  for  the  histo- 
rian, and  affords  a  useful  lesson  in  the  science  of  what  to 
avoid.  There  is  little  danger,  indeed,  that  any  nation  here- 
after will  be  tempted  to  follow  the  example  of  Spain ;  but 
the  story  of  great  crimes  may  serve  to  warn  the  unwary 
from  the  commission  of  the  little  ones  which  belong  to  the 
same  family,  and  might  possibly  bloom  unawares  into  a 
sinister  and  rank  luxuriance. 


PART    II 


THE  AGE  OF  CORTES 

THE  most  conspicuous  and  one  of  the  typical  acts  of 
Spain  in  the  New  World  was  the  conquest  of  Mexico 
by  Cortes.  When  we  have  mastered  what  is  known 
about  that — and  the  information  is  voluminous  and  particu- 
lar— we  have  little  to  learn  as  to  the  mutual  relations  and 
conduct  of  the  two  races  involved.  The  Mexican  Aztecs 
were  the  most  powerful  and  advanced  people  in  America  at 
that  time,  and  their  subjugation  by  the  conquerors  brings 
out  every  feature  of  significance  that  belongs  to  any  of  the 
contests  between  Europeans  and  barbarians  in  that  age,  and 
many,  of  course,  which  are  lacking  in  the  narratives  of  wars 
with  less  powerful  American  races. 

Something  has  already  been  said  about  the  kind  of  civili- 
zation practiced  by  the  Aztecs  in  the  sixteenth  century.  In 
Mexico,  as  elsewhere  among  American  Indians,  the  tribe  was 
the  political  integer.  The  tribe  was  composed  of  clans  and 
phratries.  But  there  was  none  of  that  coalescence  of  the  com- 
munity which  obtains  in  European  civilized  nations.  Aztec 
clans  lived  in  precincts,  or  adjacent  communal  houses.  Land 
was  in  common ;  there  was  no  real  estate,  but  mere  occupancy. 
Government  was  carried  on  by  councils  named  by  the  clans, 
and  above  these  councils  was  the  grand  tribal  council  com- 
posed of  delegates  from  the  clans.  Two  executive  chiefs,  a 
head  war-chief  and  a  tribal  sachem,  were  in  the  position  of 
rulers  of  the  tribe,  and  when  the  Spaniards  came,  they  re- 
garded the  then  head  war-chief,  Montezuma  II. ,  as  the  king 
or  emperor  of  the  Aztecs.  This  was  not  precisely  accurate, 

(105) 


106  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

because  there  was  no  Aztecan  empire  in  the  sense  of  Euro- 
pean empires,  and  the  head  war-chief,  or  Chief -of -men,  did 
not  possess  precisely  the  power,  or  exercise  all  the  functions, 
of  a  king.  But  the  differences  do  not  seem  so  vital  as  some 
modern  commentators  try  to  make  us  believe.  The  Mexican 
chief  was  not  supposed  to  be  divinely  destined  to  the  throne ; 
he  could  be  deposed  for  cause,  and  though  he  was  military 
leader  in  war,  and  head  priest  at  all  times,  he  was  not  the 
maker  of  laws  and  imposer  of  taxes.  Some  principle  of 
succession  seems  to  have  been  observed  in  the  choice  of  the 
Chief -of-men,  but  it  was  not  the  principle  of  heredity,  as  in 
Europe.  The  practice  of  exogamy  would  of  itself  bar  such 
a  system.  But  one  or  other  of  four  officials,  three  phratry 
captains  and  a  priest,  were  liable  to  assume  the  reins  of 
power  upon  the  death  or  deposition  of  the  reigning  chief. 
One  result  of  this  Mexican  system  was,  that  the  capture  or 
killing  of  the  Chief  by  an  enemy  would  not  cripple  the  execu- 
tive functions  of  government  as  it  might  do  under  a  differ- 
ent arrangement.  Cortes  discovered  this  fact  by  experience 
before  he  had  got  the  final  mastery  over  the  inhabitants  of 
Mexico. 

There  was  no  regular  taxation  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
country  under  Aztecan  dominion;  but  men  were  sent  out 
periodically  to  collect  tribute  from  Pueblos  which  had  been 
worsted  in  battle  by  the  confederation  of  Aztec  tribes.  They 
got  as  much  tribute  as  they  could;  sometimes  more,  some- 
times less ;  or  if  the  payers  of  tribute  declined  to  liquidate 
the  claims  made  upon  them,  the  confederacy  swooped  down 
on  them  and  slaughtered  them,  reserving  prisoners  enough 
to  feed  their  sacrificial  altars.  Consequently,  it  would  have 
been  very  difficult  for  an  Aztec  chancellor  of  the  exchequer 
to  make  up  a  financial  budget  for  an  ensuing  year.  There 
was  a  romantic  uncertainty  about  the  financial  future;  but 
upon  the  whole  they  might  reasonably  calculate  upon  mak- 
ing the  ends  meet  on  the  average.  And  incidentally  there 
would  be  enough  "life" — and  death — going  on  to  keep  things 
interesting. 


THE    AGE    OF   CORTES  107 

Among  the  Aztecs  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest,  descent 
in  the  male  line  was  recognized,  though  in  the  opinion  of 
students  it  had  been  introduced  but  a  short  time,  and  was 
in  the  feeble  state  which  belongs  to  infancy.  But  the  wife 
was  now  regarded  as  the  personal  property  of  her  husband. 
There  does  not  seem  to  have  been  much  of  what  we  call 
love-making,  as  a  preliminary  to  marriage,  however;  con- 
jugal unions  were  arranged  by  the  clan ;  and  no  man  or 
woman  of  a  tribe  was  permitted,  under  penalties,  to  remain 
unwed.  Infidelity  was  punished.  Thus  the  family  was 
fairly  started  as  an  institution  in  Mexico,  and  that,  and 
the  further  development  of  real  kingship,  and  of  empire, 
would  no  doubt  have  been  finally  worked  out  by  the  Aztecs, 
had  not  Cortes  put  a  stop  to  all  natural  development  by  his 
sanguinary  proceedings.  And  inasmuch  as  a  wife,  in  a 
house,  is  pretty  certain  to  acquire  a  conception  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  private  ownership  in  things — household  things  to 
begin  with — it  is  probable  that  the  communistic  idea  would 
gradually  have  given  way  to  that  of  individual  property 
holding.  But  the  sword  of  Spam  cut  all  this  growing  or- 
ganization asunder,  and  destroyed  it  forever. 

Concerning  the  political  history  of  Mexico  in  the  pre- 
Columbian  ages  we  cannot  dogmatize  successfully.  Strenu- 
ous and  even  violent  efforts  are  made  by  strict  evolutionists 
to  crush  down  the  persistent  suspicion  that  there  may  be  some 
direct  relation  between  Asia  and  Mexico  of  which,  though 
there  is  no  positive  evidence,  traditions  may  be  found  hi 
abundance.  This  suspicion  is  based  upon  the  architectural 
and  other  remains  which  have  been  unearthed  from  time  to 
time  in  Mexico  and  Yucatan,  and  in  other  places  as  well; 
for  these  bear  more  or  less  apparent  kinship  to  ancient  ruins 
in  Asia;  and  again,  they  seem  quite  unaccountable  if  we 
regard  the  present  races  inhabiting  these  regions  as  direct 
descendants  of  the  ancient  builders.  No  modern  Indian  of 
Central  America  could  construct  such  works  as  we  find  in 
the  old  tropic  forests ;  and  when  asked  concerning  these,  the 
reply  is  that  they  were  the  work  of  some  former  race,  now 


108  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

vanished ;  but  whence  that  race  came,  or  how  long  ago  they 
were  in  their  prime,  there  is  none  to  declare.  Unless,  then, 
we  suppose  that  such  a  race  did  exist  and  vanish,  we  are 
driven  to  assume  that  the  present  Indians  must  be  the  pos- 
terity of  the  builders,  and  have  forgotten  all  about  it.  That 
is  the  evolutionists'  position;  and  it  is  not  devoid  of  awk- 
wardness. It  is  not  a  matter  of  common  experience  that 
men  who  could  erect  such  buildings  as  those  of  Uxmal,  for 
example,  should  suddenly  lose  not  ODly  the  knowledge  and 
skill  which  Uxmal  implies,  but  also  all  recollection  that  such 
science  ever  had  been  exercised  by  them.  It  certainly  does 
not  seem  more  difficult  to  imagine  that  these  builders  came 
from  afar,  and  in  the  course  of  many  ages  disappeared,  as 
powerful  races  will,  give  them  only  time  enough.  The  simi- 
larity which  undeniably  exists  between  these  American  ruins 
and  some  types  of  Asiatic  architecture  adds  plausibility  to 
this  view.  Besides,  remains  of  a  similar  kind  are  found  on 
Pacific  islands  between  Asia  and  America,  and  of  these,  too, 
there  is  no  explanation ;  the  natives  of  the  islands  in  question 
can  give  no  account  of  them,  and  are  quite  incapable  of  con- 
structing the  like  themselves.  How  shall  this  gap  between 
the  ancient  and  the  more  recent  be  bridged  over?  We  must 
be  credulous  one  or  the  other  way — either  with  the  evolution- 
ists or  against  them.  And  since  the  latter  course  involves 
by  far  the  more  romantic  possibilities,  to  say  nothing  more 
of  it,  it  will  always  receive  the  wider  popular  support,  until 
or  unless  definite  and  irrefragable  testimony  is  forthcoming 
to  disprove  it. 

Leaving  these  interesting  matters  to  one  side,  let  us  re- 
mark that  Mexican  history  as  accepted  by  conservative  his- 
torians begins  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  fourteenth  century. 
Of  course  even  the  latter  concede  that  events  of  great  mo- 
ment must  have  happened  before  that;  but  who  is  to  disen- 
tangle mere  poetic  tradition  from  the  annals  of  reality?  Here 
is  a  country,  and  here  is  a  people ;  how  did  they  come  together, 
and  what  was  their  mutual  effect  upon  each  other?  It  is  sup- 
posed that  the  Mexican  plateau  may  have  been  occupied  as 


THE    AGE    OF   CORTES  109 

early  as  the  seventh  century  by  tribes  of  the  Nahua  group. 
The  country  was  called  Anahuac;  but  the  name  is  said  to 
mean,  merely,  land  contiguous  to  water ;  in  this  case,  a  lake 
country.  The  Nahuas  are  supposed  to  have  been  in  various 
stages  of  barbarism  or  even  savagery;  but,  domiciled  in 
these  limited  and  fertile  valleys,  they  multiplied  and  throve, 
learned  horticulture  and  other  kinds  of  culture,  and  built 
houses  of  ever-increasing  solidity  and  architectural  preten- 
sion. We  are  further  told  that  "Toltec"  means  Builder; 
and  these  Nahuas  thus  got  the  name  of  Builders,  or  Tol- 
tecs,  par  excellence;  and  their  domain  came  to  be  called, 
by  people  who  knew  no  better,  the  Toltec  Empire.  The 
headquarters  of  these  more  or  less  discredited  Toltecs  seems 
to  have  been,  upon  a  time,  at  a  place  called  Tollan,  near  the 
present  town  of  Tula,  which  is  about  forty  miles  northwest 
from  Mexico  City.  It  was  on  one  of  the  old  roads  or  Indian 
trails  from  North  to  South — a  sort  of  natural  gateway,  im- 
portant as  a  defensive  position,  and  presumably  occupied  for 
that  reason.  The  occupation  may  have  taken  place  in  the 
seventh  century;  the  story  being  that  the  Toltecs  arrived 
there  from  a  northern  region  known  as  Huehuetlapallan. 
After  settling  there,  they  were  ruled  over  by  a  line  of  six 
or  seven  kings  (so  called) ;  and  it  was  during  this  time  that 
they  built  the  pyramid  of  Cholula,  the  pueblo  or  city  of 
Teotihuacan,  and  other  places.  After  about  four  hundred 
years,  their  power  was  overthrown,  and  they  migrated  in  a 
southerly  direction,  and  disappeared;  but,  about  the  same 
period,  what  is  termed  the  Maya  empire  rose  to  prominence 
in  Yucatan;  and  the  inference  is  natural  that  the  Toltecs 
were  identical  with  the  Mayas.  Obviously  there  ought  to 
be  a  great  deal  more  than  this  to  learn  about  the  Toltecs ; 
but  that  is  all  we  know.  Their  language,  if  they  had  a 
separate  language,  is  totally  lost.  Perhaps  if  we  knew  the 
key  to  the  Aztec  picture-writing  we  might  be  in  a  better 
position  for  guessing,  if  nothing  more;  but  the  ingenuity 
of  students  still  halts  baffled  before  these  monuments,  and 
there  is  nothing  for  it  but  to  be  patient,  and  remember  that 


110  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

students  are,  after  all,  just  as  far  from  being  infallible,  not 
to  say  omniscient,  as  anybody  else. 

The  Toltecs  were  associated  with  a  couple  of  notable  gods, 
one  of  good,  the  other  of  evil,  named,  respectively,  Quetzal- 
coatl  and  Tezcatlipoca.  The  former,  whom  we  may  as  well 
call  the  Fair  God,  since  that  is  what  he  stands  for,  is  an 
example  of  what  the  evolutionists  delight  to  call  a  "culture 
hero,"  and  to  explain  by  reference  to  solar  myths.  This 
same  solar-myth  theory  has  indeed  been  worked  wellnigh 
to  death;  but  its  devotees  are  faithful  beyond  the  wont  of 
human  nature,  and  revert  to  it  on  all  possible  occasions. 
Anything  rather  than  concede  that  a  culture  hero  may  have 
been  a  real  man,  endowed  with  superior  mind  and  broader 
nature  than  his  contemporaries ;  or  that  he  may  have  been 
a  visitor  from  another  and  higher  race,  who  taught  an  un- 
developed people  how  to  live  to  better  advantage.  Christ 
is  a  flagrant  example  of  the  scientific  culture  hero,  and  will 
no  doubt  be  relegated  to  that  category  by  them  as  soon  as 
they  are  sufficiently  far  removed  from  him  in  time  to  do  it 
safely — always  assuming  that  by  that  time  there  will  be  any 
evolutionary  scientists  left  in  the  world.  Be  that  as  it  may, 
they  have  poor  Quetzalcoatl  entirely  at  their  mercy,  and  they 
show  him  none.  There  is  nothing  that  he  can  do,  say  or  be 
that  is  not  promptly  explained  as  solar  mythical,  and  com- 
pared with  other  solar  myths  all  over  the  known  world. 
How  it  happens  that  the  peoples  of  the  earth  should  all 
have  passed  through  this  solar-myth  period  of  culture,  and 
yet  have  left  no  record  to  show  how  they  came  to  get  into 
it,  or  to  get  out  of  it,  we  are  not  informed.  It  would  seem 
to  require  a  fine  imagination  to  create  the  fable  that  the  sun 
and  moon  were  human  beings,  and  that  their  light  signifies 
intelligence  and  the  overcoming  of  the  darkness  of  ignorance. 
Yet  this  is  assumed  to  have  been  the  inveterate  habit  of  races 
who  in  other  respects  are  mere  savages,  hardly  able  to  invent 
the  bow  and  arrow.  It  might  be  suggested  that  it  would  be 
more  in  accord  with  what  we  know  of  the  processes  of  the 
human  mind,  if  we  supposed  that  some  remarkable  human 


THE    AGE    OF    CORTES  111 

being,  after  his  death,  was  likened  to  the  sun  and  moon,  and 
that  the  benefits  the  latter  confer  upon  mankind  were  com- 
pared with  the  concrete  or  spiritual  good  this  man  had  done. 
But  the  scientists  prefer  to  put  the  cart  before  the  horse ;  and 
as  no  proof  is  possible  either  way,  we  must  admit  that  possi- 
bly they  are  right. 

The  Fair  God,  at  all  events,  appears  to  have  been  a  deity 
of  great  distinction  and  wide  influence.  He  brought  on  storms 
and  wielded  lightning,  and,  like  Eolus,  held  the  strings  of  the 
wind-bags.  His  name  means  Bird-Serpent,  and  he  is  repre- 
sented with  snakes  round  his  waist.  He  is  credited  with  the 
invention  of  the  calendar  of  the  Aztecs;  and  sterile  women 
addressed  their  vows  to  him,  as  in  India  to  the  god  Krishna. 
He  was  at  the  same  time  the  patron  of  virgins  and  asceticism. 
As  in  Persia  we  hear  of  the  titanic  conflict  between  Ormuzd 
and  Ahriman,  so  in  Mexico  we  are  told  of  the  enmity  between 
the  Fair  God  and  his  foe  Tezcatlipoca.  First  one  and  then 
the  other  was  the  sun,  and  the  vicissitudes  of  their  battles 
were  innumerable.  But  Quetzalcoatl  was  at  length  worsted, 
and  took  his  departure  from  his  people,  promising,  however, 
to  return  to  them  at  some  future  time,  bringing  with  him 
companions  with  white  faces  and  beards  like  his  own.  Ac- 
cordingly, the  Aztecs  expected  his  arrival;  and  this,  as  we 
shall  see,  had  a  singular  bearing  upon  the  capture  of  Mexico 
by  Cortes. 

Contemporary  with  the  alleged  Toltecs  were  the  Chichi 
mecs,  though  what  precisely  they  were  no  one  ventures 
dogmatically  to  affirm.  They  were  perhaps  barbarians; 
but  on  the  other  hand  they  may  just  as  well  have  been 
Toltecs  who  received  the  title  in  compliment  for  having  re- 
pelled a  barbarian  attack.  Either  way,  we  are  fairly  safe 
in  presuming  that  there  were  in  Mexico  people  of  inferior 
condition,  whom  the  Toltecs  opposed  or  oppressed.  But  it 
does  not  appear  that  it  was  these  people  who  finally  drove 
the  Toltecs  out;  that  was  more  probably  accomplished  by 
the  Nahua  tribes  from  the  north,  afterward  known  as 
Aztecs.  They  came  in  a  series  of  migrations,  very  much 


112  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

as  the  eastern  races  came  to  Europe;  and  like  them,  the 
Nahuas  became  divided  and  hostile  one  to  another.  Some 
entered  the  Mexican  valley,  while  others  fortified  them- 
selves on  the  Serpent  Hill  and  worshipped  the  war-god, 
Huitzilopochtli.  The  latter  division  of  the  race  held  this 
hill  or  town  of  Tollan  until  circumstances  drove  them  on- 
ward to  the  valley,  where  they  finally  built  the  city  which 
we  know  as  Mexico,  but  which  they  also  called  Tenochtitlan. 
The  name  Mexico  is  derived  from  one  of  the  titles  of  Huitzi- 
lopochtli— Mexitl.  It  would  be  well  if  all  Mexican  or  Aztecan 
names  had  so  merciful  an  alias. 

Dates  are  scarce  in  these  periods ;  but  we  are  allowed  to 
believe  that  Tollan  was  abandoned  in  1168,  and  that  Mexico 
was  founded  about  1325.  The  spot  they  selected  for  their 
pueblo  was  not  at  first  sight  an  attractive  one;  it  was  in 
the  midst  of  some  marshes,  to  which  they  must  have  fled 
for  refuge,  just  as  negroes  and  criminals  a  hundred  years 
ago  used  to  take  to  the  Dismal  Swamp  when  too  hard- 
pressed  by  their  pursuers.  But  there  were  hummocks  of 
dry  ground  in  this  marsh  of  the  Aztecs;  and  they  had  a 
story  that  they  found  in  it  an  eagle  sitting  on  a  cactus  which 
grew  from  the  crevice  of  a  sacrificial  stone  on  which,  years 
before,  they  had  offered  up  the  body  of  a  captive.  The  eagle 
held  in  his  beak  a  serpent;  and  the  omen,  or  symbol,  was 
held  to  be  favorable,  and  indicative  of  victory.  Here  and 
not  elsewhere  then  must  be  their  stronghold;  and  the  eagle 
and  his  appurtenances  should  be  their  coat  of  arms  or  totem. 
They  reformed  their  marsh  by  constructing  dikes  and  cause- 
ways, and  leading  the  water  into  canals;  and  ere  long  the 
swamp  was  inwardly  a  very  agreeable  dwelling-place,  and 
outwardly  an  impregnable  fortress.  Having  thus  secured 
themselves,  they  proceeded  to  look  about  them  to  see  whether 
they  could  not  attack  some  one  else.  There  was  a  formidable 
tribe  called  the  Tecpanecas,  living  in  the  pueblo  Azcaputzalco 
on  the  west  shore  of  the  lake;  the  Aztecs  lacked  strength  to 
subdue  them,  so  they  became  their  allies.  They  went  on 
gaining  power  for  fifty  years,  after  which  they  had  their 


THE    AGE    OF    CORTES  113 

first  chief -of -men,  and  began  to  build  their  houses  of  solid 
stone.  A  number  of  chiefs  succeeded  one  another  for  more 
than  fifty  years  longer,  when,  on  occasion  of  a  quarrel  be- 
tween their  allies  and  another  pueblo,  Tezcuco,  the  Aztecs 
joined  the  latter  in  overthrowing  Azcaputzalco.  They  thus 
secured,  among  other  advantages,  control  of  a  supply  of 
water  sufficient  for  all  their  needs.  Another  pueblo,  Tlaco- 
pan,  was  at  the  same  time  made  tributary  to  Tenochtitlan. 

The  three  pueblos  now  formed  a  confederacy,  with  the 
Aztecs  as  the  chief  partner.  Four  more  chief s-of -men  suc- 
ceeded to  the  throne  of  Mexico,  and  quite  a  large  extent  of 
country  was  overrun  by  their  warriors,  and  made  tributary 
to  the  confederacy.  But  they  did  not  occupy  the  country  in 
a  military  sense,  and  not  a  few  large  pueblos  remained  inde- 
pendent. The  pueblo  of  Tlascala,  in  particular,  defeated 
many  attempts  to  subdue  them.  Thus  we  are  brought  to 
the  year  1502,  when  Montezuma  II.  was  elected  chief -of-men 
at  the  age  of  four  and  thirty.  He  it  was  whom  we  know  as 
the  "emperor"  of  Cortes's  time. 

His  first  exploit  was  an  unsuccessful  attack  upon  the 
Tlascalans;  but  he  had  better  fortune  in  the  east,  where 
he  subdued  several  minor  towns,  earning  thereby  their  bit- 
ter hostility.  This  he  would  carefully  have  avoided  doing 
had  he  been  able  to  look  but  a  little  way  into  the  future ;  for 
it  was  by  way  of  these  towns  that  Cortes  was  to  advance. 
For  the  next  few  years  the  air  was  full  of  omens  and  por- 
tents, foreshadowing  war  and  calamity;  and  in  1518  the 
troubles  began.  A  tax-gatherer  in  the  employ  of  Monte- 
zuma, Pinotl  by  name,  and  incidentally  a  spy  at  one  of  the 
tributary  pueblos  near  the  coast,  was  one  day  informed  by 
an  Indian  from  a  coast  town  that  there  were  towers  with 
white  wings  walking  about  over  the  waters  of  the  bay. 
These  towers  brought  forth  small  canoes  which  moved 
swiftly  to  and  fro;  and  in  them  were  creatures  resem- 
bling men,  though  their  faces  carried  thick  beards,  and 
their  clothing  shone  and  darted  rays  in  the  sun.  These 
accounts  seemed  passing  strange  to  the  tax-gatherer,  and 


114  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

he  betook  himself  coastward  forthwith,  to  see  with  his  own 
eyes,  if  indeed  there  were  such  marvels  to  be  seen.  Sure 
enough,  the  report  was  true;  there  were  the  towers,  with 
wings  which  they  could  expand  or  fold  together  at  will; 
and  the  inhabitants — they  were  certainly  men,  albeit  of  a 
fashion  hitherto  unknown  to  the  deponent.  As  the  chief 
representative  of  America  present  in  that  place,  the  worthy 
Pinotl  took  it  upon  himself  to  go  forth  and  greet  these 
singular  strangers,  and  was  admitted  by  them  to  climb  up 
the  side  of  one  of  their  towers  and  hold  converse  with  its 
commander — who,  in  truth,  was  none  other  than  Juan  de 
Grijalva,  making  his  first  reconnoissance  of  the  "Spanish 
Main"  (as  it  was  presently  to  be). 

Grijalva,  communicating  with  the  Aztec  by  whatever 
species  of  pigeon-Spanish  had  been  developed  in  these  re- 
gions during  the  past  five  and  twenty  years,  asked  many 
questions,  and  perhaps  answered  a  few,  as  prudence  might 
dictate.  Poor  Pinotl,  though  with  the  Aztec  empire  at  his 
back,  was  quietly  but  inevitably  reduced  to  the  attitude  of 
playing  second  or  even  third  or  fourth  fiddle  in  the  confer- 
ence ;  these  shining  strangers  had  a  masterful  and  confident 
way  with  them ;  and  what  was  Pinotl  after  all  but  a  mere 
tax-gatherer  and  incidental  spy?  Pinotl  found  himself  an- 
swering more  questions  than  he  asked;  and  he  told  much 
about  the  riches  and  possessions  of  his  august  master  up  in 
Tenochtitlan  yonder.  At  the  name  of  "gold,"  the  shining 
strangers  pricked  up  their  ears,  and  smiled  agreeably;  it 
would  please  them,  they  observed,  to  drop  in  on  the  august 
Montezuma  one  of  these  fine  days,  and  pay  their  compli- 
ments to  so  wealthy  and  powerful  a  monarch.  Meanwhile 
they  presented  the  agitated  Pinotl  with  certain  gifts,  receiv- 
ing gifts  in  return  from  him ;  and  so  bowed  him  courteously, 
but  always  with  that  masterful  air,  over  the  bulwarks  of 
the  white- winged  tower,  and  ashore  again.  Hardly  pausing 
to  regain  his  breath  after  contact  with  such  marvels,  and 
possibly  with  deity  itself,  Pinotl  girded  up  his  lean  loins 
and  made  all  possible  speed  up  the  mountain  trails  and  over 


THE   AGE    OF    CORTES  115 

hill  and  dale  to  the  fair  city  of  Mexico,  doomed,  though  he 
knew  it  not  then,  to  such  a  baptism  of  blood  as  even  the 
Aztec  priests  in  their  most  sanguinary  enthusiasm  had  never 
seen  or  imagined. 

Admitted  to  audience  with  the  august  chief-of-men,  he 
unfolded  his  wondrous  news,  supplementing  the  word  of 
mouth  by  appeal  to  the  eye  in  the  shape  of  sketches  on 
maguey  paper  of  the  towers  and  the  shining  strangers  them- 
selves. Hereupon  Montezuma,  moved  beyond  his  wont,  per- 
ceived that  this  was  a  matter  which  even  the  chief-of-men 
was  not,  alone,  competent  to  deal  with ;  and  he  convened  the 
tribal  council  in  a  hurry.  God-like  strangers  were  come,  in 
walking  or  flying  towers,  from  the  east,  the  abode  of  Quet- 
zalcoatl ;  precisely,  to  all  seeming,  as  the  old  prophecies  and 
later  signs  and  omens  had  foretold.  Now,  since  the  Fair 
God's  departure  in  the  dim  past  ages,  the  Aztecs,  like  the 
sensible  people  they  were,  had  given  their  homage  to  his 
enemy  and  conqueror  Tezcatlipoca,  and  to  the  latter's  friend 
and  ally  the  war-god,  Huitzilopochtli.  All  religious  arrange- 
ments were  established  with  a  view  to  pleasing  these  person- 
ages ;  for  them  did  the  victims  bleed  on  the  altars,  and  their 
images  grinned,  horrible,  in  the  temples.  The  entire  social 
and  political  economy  of  the  state  was  based  upon  worship 
of  these  deities;  Montezuma  himself  was  their  priest,  and 
held  his  power  in  a  manner  through  their  favor.  All  this 
had  been  well;  but  now  there  arose  a  perplexhy,  which 
might  easily  bear  a  worse  name.  For  did  not  legend  assert 
that  the  Fair  God  would  one  day  return  with  power,  to  re- 
sume his  ancient  sovereignty,  and  consequently  to  hurl  from 
their  thrones  and  temples  the  usurpers,  his  old  enemies? 
And  if  the  gods  of  Montezuma  were  to  suffer  destruction, 
what  might  be  expected  to  happen  to  Montezuma  himself, 
and  all  his  following?  This  was  the  question  which  shaped 
itself  in  ominous  lineaments  before  the  senses  of  the  tribal 
council ;  which  their  sagacity  hardly  felt  itself  able  to  cope 
withal. 

Perhaps  there  were  some  who  had  secretly  disbelieved 
—  6 


116  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

that  Quetzalcoatl  would  ever  return — even  that  he  had  ever 
existed.  They  had  taken  it  for  an  old- wives'  tale,  useful 
to  subdue  the  vulgar,  but  to  be  smiled  at  by  men  of  higher 
intelligence.  But  here,  at  the  doors,  and  emerging  from 
that  very  east  whence  the  Fair  God  had  promised  to  re- 
turn, were  fair-faced  strangers  of  undoubtedly  superhuman 
powers;  and  Aztec  incredulity  durst  not  go  so  far  as  to  deny 
that  they  must  be  come  in  fulfilment  of  prophecy.  It  is  all 
very  well  to  talk  about  coincidences;  but  to  call  an  event 
like  this  a  mere  coincidence  was  to  push  scepticism  to  the 
limit  of  folly,  and  beyond  it.  The  Fair  God  had  come  back ; 
and  since  prophec}^  had  proved  true  so  far,  with  what  face 
could  one  question  that  prophecy  would  go  on  to  fulfil  itself 
to  the  final  letter?  In  short,  the  astounding  and  formidable 
probability  stared  in  the  distended  eyes  of  Montezuma  and 
his  tribal  council,  that  they  were  in  desperate  difficulties. 
To  see  one's  gods  threatened  with  prompt  extinction  by 
better  or  stronger  gods  is  a  serious  matter;  we  can  partly 
understand  how  the  council  and  the  chief  felt,  by  imagining 
the  sudden  irruption  of  a  hostile  political  party  into  the  com- 
fortable circles  of  a  Washington  Administration  in  the  full 
tide  of  its  enjoyment  of  the  offices  and  perquisites :  a  Coxey 
army,  say,  with  power  to  enforce  its  will.  Whether  or  not 
the  Aztec  populace  was  as  much  in  love  with  human  sacri- 
fices and  the  continuance  of  the  existing  political  regime,  as 
were  the  members  of  that  regime  themselves,  cannot  cer- 
tainly be  known  to  us;  perhaps  it  was  not  known  to  the 
council.  But  there  will  generally  be  found  in  any  commu- 
nity a  considerable  body  who  are  "agin  the  government," 
be  it  what  it  may;  and  then,  beyond  any  doubt  at  all,  there 
were  those  pueblos  to  the  east  which  were  of  late  so  severely 
disciplined;  they  would  be  sure  to  welcome  anybody  who 
showed  disposition  and  ability  to  destroy  Tenochtitlan.  In 
emergencies  like  these,  one  counts  his  friends,  and  finds  them 
much  less  numerous  than  he  would  have  wished.  The  Az- 
tecan  confederacy  had  esteemed  itself  powerful;  but  when 
one's  enemies  are  reinforced  by  the  gods,  the  outlook  is  dark. 


THE    AGE    OF    CORTES  117 

Upon  the  whole,  the  tribal  council  and  their  chief  must  have 
had  an  interesting  and  emotional  sitting ;  a  sitting,  as  it  were, 
upon  the  thin  crust  of  a  volcano,  which  promised  at  any  mo- 
ment to  send  them  into  infinite  space  in  the  shape  of  cosmic 
grains  of  dust.  How  much  the  Spaniards,  therefore,  were 
indebted  to  prophecies  of  which  they  had  never  heard,  there 
is  no  telling ;  but  it  is  not  unlikely  that  if  they  had  attempted 
to  invade  Mexico  on  their  private  merits  alone,  they  would 
have  found  a  very  different  reception,  and  perhaps  met  a  dif- 
ferent fate.  But  the  stars  in  their  courses  fought  for  them, 
and  their  sharp  swcrds  were  made  sharper  yet  by  the  grind- 
stone of  the  supernatural. 

How  happened  the  Spaniards  to  visit  Mexico  just  at  this 
time?  We  have  seen  that  the  island  of  Hispaniola,  or  Haiti, 
was  the  centre  whence  radiated  all  lines  of  Spanish  explora- 
tion and  conquest.  Diego  Columbus  assumed  governorship 
there  in  1509,  and  despatched  Velasquez  to  conquer  Cuba  in 
1511.  Concerning  the  details  of  that  conquest  we  know  not 
much;  it  was  accomplished  promptly  enough  at  all  events, 
and  for  many  generations  was  administered  in  the  true 
Spanish  style;  the  inhabitants  were  reduced  to  slavery, 
and  worked  to  death  in  the  mines  or  otherwise,  with  cir- 
cumstances of  cruelty  which  would  be  incredible  were  they 
not  paralleled  hi  recent  years  in  the  same  island.  The  col- 
ony founded  in  Darien  by  Ojeda,  in  spite  of  its  misfortunes, 
and  of  the  miserable  death  of  its  founder,  was  kept  alive  by 
hook  or  by  crook,  and  was  the  base  whence  Balboa  made  his 
discovery  of  the  Pacific  in  1513.  It  was  in  the  same  year 
that  Ponce  de  Leon,  then  governor  of  Porto  Rico,  explored 
Florida.  Tn  1516,  food  being  scarce  in  Darien,  Berual  Diaz 
and  a  hundred  other  colonists  crossed  to  Cuba,  and  set  up  a 
slave-catching  business  from  a  point  on  the  southern  coast, 
cruising  in  the  Bay  of  Honduras.  Governor  Velasquez 
(though  the  business  was  illegal)  added  a  ship  fitted  out 
by  himself  to  the  corsair  fleet,  and  gave  the  command  to 
Hernandez  de  Cordova.  There  were  about  a  hundred  sol- 
diers in  the  company ;  and  after  they  had  sailed  from  San- 


118  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

tiago  by  the  "Windward  Passage  to  get  supplies,  the  pilot, 
Alaminos,  an  old  sailor  under  Columbus,  remembered  that 
the  great  Admiral  had  once  told  him  something  of  rich 
countries  to  the  west.  Cordova  was  interested,  and  with 
permission  of  Velasquez  to  act  as  lieutenant  in  whatever 
new  lands  were  found,  off  bore  the  fleet  for  Yucatan.  A 
first  glimpse  of  the  coast  was  more  suggestive  of  the  real 
thing — the  Oriental  civilization — than  anything  they  had 
stumbled  upon  yet.  Here  were  people  clad  in  jerkins  of 
quilted  cloth  with  feather  cloaks  and  caps  of  the  most  bril- 
liant hues ;  on  shore  were  soen  strange  tower-like  edifices  of 
pyramidal  form,  with  carvings  and  statues.  But  the  people 
in  the  quilted  doublets  were  not  friendly;  they  were  much 
the  contrarjr;  for  they  had  heard  of  these  sea-rovers  before 
by  reports  from  Cuban  fugitives.  They  did  not  wish  to  be 
enslaved  and  slaughtered;  and  when  the  Spaniards  came 
ashore,  they  ambushed  and  killed  some  of  them.  Coasting 
along,  the  visitors  arrived  at  Campeche,  where  they  were 
allowed  to  land  by  the  Maya  inhabitants,  and  saw  the  tem- 
ples of  stone  and  the  great  fortresses,  the  sculptured  snakes, 
and  the  altars  glistening  with  blood.  Men  and  women  mean- 
while, laughing  and  curious,  pressed  forward  to  look  upon 
the  strangers;  but  later  came  priests  who  requested  them, 
with  more  or  less  politeness,  to  get  off  that  part  of  the  earth 
without  delay ;  which  hint  they  took ;  for  the  enterprise  of 
conquering  this  country  with  a  hundred  men  did  not  look 
promising.  Landing  once  more  further  along  the  coast,  not 
for  conquest  but  for  water,  they  were  fiercely  attacked  and 
nearly  exterminated;  all  who  were  not  slain  outright  were 
wounded.  Cordova  himself  died  of  his  injuries  soon  after 
getting  back  to  Cuba.  Evidently  the  Mayas  had  not  the 
fear  of  Quetzalcoatl  before  their  eyes. 

Velasquez  heard  their  story,  «and  his  desire  to  see  more 
of  these  rich  temples  was  stronger  than  his  apprehensions  of 
disaster;  he  fitted  out  four  caravels,  put  two  hundred  and 
fifty  soldiers  aboard,  gave  Grijalva,  his  nephew,  the  com- 
mand, and  sent  them  on  their  way.  They  found  their  way 


THE    AGE    OF    CORTES  119 

to  that  watering-place  which  had  proved  so  fatal  to  Cor- 
dova; but  this  time  the  Spaniards  had  the  best  of  the  en- 
counter. Touching  at  Tabasco,  where  they  were  well 
received  by  the  chief  of  that  name,  they  went  on  to  where 
the  pueblo  of  Mictlan-Quauhtla  looked  out  over  the  bay; 
and  there  it  was  that  they  were  boarded  and  interviewed 
by  the  startled  Pinotl — whom  they  also  interviewed.  The 
living  people  whom  they  saw  were  amicable  and  smiling; 
but  their  sensibilities  were  somewhat  shocked  by  the  omni- 
present dead  and  disembowelled  bodies  and  fearfully  glaring 
heads  on  poles  which  everywhere  encountered  them.  Span- 
iards love  blood ;  but  they  prefer  to  shed  it  themselves,  and 
in  their  own  way.  What -if  this  amicably  smiling  people 
were  to  take  a  fancy,  still  smiling,  to  remove  Spanish  heads 
from  the  shoulders  on  which  they  grew,  to  these  poles?  Yon- 
der idols  had  a  bloodthirsty  look,  albeit  their  jaws  were 
already  adrip  with  gore ;  it  was  not  altogether  a  sinless  Eden 
to  which  they  were  come.  But  then,  there  was  gold,  and 
also  souls  to  be  won  to  Christ;  let  us  not  despair! 

From  a  place  which  they  named  St.  John  de  Ulloa  they 
sent  back  their  sick  to  Cuba,  and  asked  for  reinforcements. 
In  November,  Grijalva,  after  some  further  coasting,  which 
showed  nothing  better  than  what  had  already  been  seen, 
returned  to  Cuba  and  told  the  story,  which  sounded  well. 
Cathay,  it  seemed,  had  been  found  after  all.  But  poor 
Grijalva,  in  the  midst  of  his  anticipations,  was  deposed 
from  his  command  by  his  stern  uncle,  whose  mind  had  in 
the  meanwhile  been  poisoned  against  him;  and,  instead 
of  him,  Hernando  Cortes  was  raised  to  the  leadership  of  the 
new  expedition.  This  man  was  born  in  Medellin,  Estrama- 
dura,  in  1485,  and  was  therefore  at  this  time  about  three 
and  thirty  years  of  age.  He  had  come  to  Hispaniola  in 
1504;  after  some  years  he  moved  to  Cuba  and  married.  He 
presents  a  queer  mixture  of  traits  and  qualities.  Daring 
and  unscrupulous  he  was,  crafty  and  relentless;  but  strictly 
religious  (in  the  Spanish  way),  enduring,  and  honorable 
after  the  manner  of  chivalric  honor.  He  was  born  both  a 


120  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

soldier  and  a  statesman,  with  a  mind  to  plan  and  ability 
to  execute.  He  was  just  the  man  to  conquer  Mexico;  in- 
deed, he  was  so  well-fitted  for  that  job  that  Velasquez,  after 
appointing  him  to  the  command,  began  to  have  misgivings 
lest  he  prove  only  too  well  qualified,  and  liable,  upon  oppor- 
tunity, to  take  matters  in  his  own  hands.  Velasquez  was 
a  true  Spaniard,  and  therefore  would  rather  see  Spain  dis- 
honored than  forego  his  own  private  advantage ;  so  he  sent 
after  Cortes,  who  had  started,  to  call  him  back  and  send 
him  somewhere  else.  But  Cortes  believed  in  the  saying  that 
possession  is  nine-tenths  of  the  law ;  he  was  in  possession  of 
the  command  of  a  sturdy  troop  of  soldiers,  and  had  no  inten- 
tion of  resigning  it  in  response  to  the  second  thoughts  of  Gov- 
ernor Velasquez.  He  sailed  on  cheerfully,  and  in  the  first 
days  of  March  had  a  brush  with  the  Tabasco  people,  and 
helped  himself  to  some  provisions  that  he  found  there.  From 
St.  John  de  Ulloa  he  sent  forward  messengers  with  gifts  and 
polite  speeches  to  Montezuma,  already  shivering  in  his  cap- 
ital; and  by  careful  inquiries  he  began  to  comprehend  how 
matters  stood  in  the  Confederacy,  and  out  of  it.  It  became 
evident  that  there  were  disagreements  and  enmities  in  this 
pleasant  land  among  the  various  inhabitants  of  it;  and  it 
became  of  course  the  policy  of  a  sage  invader  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  these  to  advance  his  own  designs.  But  first  it 
was  necessary  to  discover  which  of  the  native  parties  was  the 
stronger;  meanwhile  it  would  be  well  to  seem  to  favor  both 
of  them.  In  pursuance  of  this  plan,  this  astute  young  man 
abetted  the  tributary  pueblos  in  arresting  Montezuma's  tax- 
gatherers;  but  after  this  had  been  done,  and  the  pueblos  thus 
assured  of  his  support,  he  secretly  summoned  the  forlorn  tax- 
gatherers  before  him,  and  despatched  them  home  in  freedom, 
to  carry  to  Montezuma  the  news  that  the  mysterious  invader 
was  his  ally,  whatever  appearance  to  the  contrary  he  might 
occasionally  be  constrained  to  assume. 

But  a  successful  invader  and  conqueror  has  no  end  of 
things  to  consider;  in  the  first  place  there  is  the  people  whose 
land  he  is  invading,  with  their  as  yet  unknown  ways  and 


THE    AGE    OF    COKTES  121 

resources ;  then,  there  is  the  army  he  is  leading  to  the  inva- 
sion, many  or  most  members  of  which  may  lose  heart  at  the 
wrong  moment,  and  by  flinching  or  deserting  upset  all  pre- 
arranged plans.  The  rank  and  file  of  the  Spanish  army  were 
doubtless  better  soldiers,  man  for  man,  than  they  are  now ; 
but  there  was  nevertheless  in  them  that  quality,  or  absence 
of  quality,  which  makes  it  imperative  upon  their  officers 
to  drive  them  with  whips  of  some  sort  against  the  enemy. 
To-day,  we  see  a  leader  shooting  down  some  two  score  of  his 
men  with  his  revolver,  in  order  to  persuade  them  to  serve 
the  guns;  in  ]519,  in  Mexico,  Cortes  had  not  army  enough 
to  afford  this  costly  luxury;  but  he  was  not  at  a  loss  for 
other  means.  He  had  come  hither  in  ships;  and  what  was 
to  prevent  his  army,  or  too  large  a  part  of  it,  from  re-em- 
barking on  these  ships,  if  they  became  frightened  or  home- 
sick, and  scuttling  off  back  to  Cuba?  The  best  way  to  pre- 
vent it,  said  Cortes,  in  his  deep-revolving  mind,  is  to  scuttle 
the  ships  themselves.  Several  of  the  vessels  were  accord- 
ingly treated  in  this  way,  secretly;  the  leakage  being  dis- 
covered, question  arose  as  to  how  it  happened;  and  answer 
was  made  that  it  must  have  been  worms.  But  if,  argued 
Cortes,  so  many  ships  are  thus  rendered  unseaworthy,  would 
it  not  be  wise  to  scuttle  the  rest  of  them,  and  so  set  free  some 
scores  of  sailor-men,  who  can  take  arms  and  accompany  us 
on  our  glorious  march  into  the  golden  interior  of  the  coun- 
try? So  said,  so  done;  until  there  was  but  one  ship  left. 
At  this  stage,  certain  suspicious  and  prying  persons  had 
made  it  out  that  the  whole  transaction  was  what  we  would 
term  a  put-up  job;  and  accused  Cortes  thereof.  A  lesser 
man  would  have  denied  the  charge;  but  Cortes  knew  his 
human  nature  better.  If  there  be  in  this  noble  army  (says 
he)  any  individuals  so  faint-hearted  and  craven  as  to  shrink 
from  the  path  of  glory  and  honor  that  lies  before  us  across 
yonder  mountains,  let  those  persons,  in  God's  name,  step 
out  now  from  our  ranks,  throw  down  their  swords,  and 
skulk  back  to  the  remaining  ship  which  lies  ready  to  convey 
the  cowards  home  again.  But  let  those  who  have  hearts  in 


122  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH   AMERICA 

their  bosoms,  and  ambition  in  their  souls  to  become  rich,  and 
famous,  follow  me ;  for  I  will  lead  them  to  such  fortune  as 
never  yet  the  mind  of  mortal  man  conceived. — Such  was  the 
argument  of  the  deep-designing  Cortes. 

Men  and  soldiers  are  vain ;  they  dread  finding  themselves 
in  a  minority ;  they  are  avaricious,  and  let  us  not  deny  that 
they  may  be  fired  with  a  not  ungenerous  enthusiasm.  Cortes 
prevailed.  His  little  speech  was  received  with  shouts ;  amid 
which  he  failed  not  to  suggest  that  the  one  remaining  temp- 
tation to  infidelity  should  forthwith  be  removed.  Renewed 
cheers ;  and  with  a  rush  the  final  caravel  is  sent  to  the  bot- 
tom, and  the  army  of  invasion  stands  on  the  coast,  literally 
between  the  devil  and  the  deep  sea,  with  nothing  for  it  but 
to  conquer  or  die.  In  such  a  predicament,  men  may  be 
trusted  to  do  their  best.  Cortes  could  afford  to  have  them 
do  no  less;  for  should  he  fail  to  make  good  his  hold  upon 
the  land  of  gold,  he  needed  no  soothsayer  to  tell  him  that 
his  friend  the  governor  of  Cuba  had  a  headsman's  axe  sharp- 
ened for  his  neck.  It  was  conquer  or  die  for  him  too. 

Cortes  had  meanwhile  laid  the  foundations  of  the  town 
of  Vera  Cruz,  and  had  sagaciously  resigned  the  commission 
given  him  by  Velasquez,  calculating  that  he  would  be  chosen 
captain-general  by  his  men,  as  in  fact  he  immediately  was. 
All  being  ready,  the  famous  march  from  the  sea  began.  As 
modern  travellers  know,  there  is  no  more  picturesque  bit 
of  country  in  the  world  than  that  which  lies  between  Vera 
Cruz  and  the  city  of  Mexico.  To  pass  through  it  is  an  in- 
spiration ;  but  what  must  it  have  been  to  those  who  traversed 
it  for  the  first  time,  with  such  perils  before  and  around  them, 
and  such  possibilities  of  wealth  and  glory?  They  were  see- 
ing things  which  mortal  European  eyes  had  never  till  now 
beheld.  Heaven-scaling  mountains;  awful  ravines;  deli- 
cious valleys;  wondrous  plains;  the  gorgeous  vegetation 
of  the  semi-tropics.  In  one  valley  there  was  a  continuous 
line  of  houses  for  some  dozen  miles,  with  walled  and  robust 
fortresses  such  as  one  might  scarce  find  in  Spain  itself.  And 
there  was  a  population  numerous  in  proportion,  though  not, 


THE    AGE    OF    CORTES  123 

fortunately  for  the  invaders,  clad  in  steel  and  armed  with 
guns.  Darts  and  spears  they  had,  and  clubs  studded  over 
with  sharp  outjutting  points  of  stone  destructive  even  to  steel 
headpieces  should  the  blow  come  down  unobstructed.  Such 
weapons,  were  there  but  men  enough  to  use  them,  might 
finally  prove  a  serious  obstacle  to  the  ambition  of  young 
Cortes;  and  certainly  there  were  men  in  abundance.  But, 
as  Cortes  had  already  surmised,  these  men  were  not  all  of 
one  mind  in  their  attitude  toward  the  invaders ;  for  if  some 
would  oppose  them  at  all  hazards,  others  would  incline  to 
welcome  them  as  deities  returning  to  claim  their  own.  Be- 
sides, these  folk  in  brilliant  feathers  and  quilted  cotton  had 
many  internal  jealousies  and  revenges  to  satisfy,  and,  after 
the  manner  of  men,  would  be  willing  to  see  their  country  fall, 
if  only  they  could  get  even  thereby  with  their  own  private 
foes.  The  pueblos  hitherto  tributary  to  Tenochtitlan  would 
join  the  invader  in  suppressing  that  arrogant  oligarchy,  upon 
whose  altars  so  many  thousand  of  them  had  bled.  We  can 
hardly  blame  them  for  that;  the  firmament  of  tyranny,  be 
it  never  so  high  and  bright,  is  always  bounded  on  all  sides 
by  the  horizon  of  black  revenge.  This,  then,  was  a  strong 
support  for  Cortes's  adventure;  and,  in  addition,  there  was 
the  excellent  deadliness  of  his  weapons,  and  the  overmaster- 
ing dread  inspired  by  his  horses.  One  horse,  with  a  man 
on  him,  or  even  unmounted,  could  be  trusted  to  put  to  flight 
an  army  of  Aztecs.  With  his  fifteen  horses,  his  six  cannon, 
and  his  four  hundred  and  fifty  armor-clad  men-at-arms, 
girded  about  with  their  supernatural  reputation,  Cortes 
might  bid  defiance  to  a  myriad;  and  if  half  that  myriad 
could  be  seduced  to  fight  on  his  side,  he  might  master  the 
whole  country.  In  spite  of  first  appearances,  in  short,  the 
odds  were  in  favor  of  the  Spaniards;  nevertheless,  it  was 
a  wonderful  spectacle,  that  of  the  handful  of  iron  warriors 
from  across  the  ocean,  winding  up  those  narrow  mountain 
trails,  to  subdue  a  nation  of  millions.  The  spectacle  of  Alex- 
ander conquering  Asia  was  hardly  so  wonderful. 

Before  the  invaders,  as  they  came  on,  fled  a  scurrying 


124  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

multitude  of  couriers,  bearing  on  to  Montezuma  the  items 
of  the  march,  and  illustrating  their  reports  with  drawings 
and  writings  on  maguey  paper,  just  as,  to-day,  we  have  the 
photograph  of  our  famous  man  or  criminal  served  up  each 
morning  in  our  newspaper  along  with  his  eulogy  or  the  story 
of  his  crime.  Cortes  was  not  long  in  realizing  that  the  role 
attributed  to  him  was  that  of  a  god,  and  he  acted  up  to  its 
requirements.  Since  he  was  Quetzalcoatl,  obviously  it  be- 
hooved him  to  discomfit  upon  all  occasions  the  worship  and 
the  priests  of  his  rivals.  Accordingly,  upon  arriving  at  the 
town  of  Cempoala,  where  numberless  honest  persons  were 
awaiting  their  turn  upon  the  altars,  and  the  idols  were  open- 
ing their  horrid  mouths  to  quaff  the  hot  blood  of  the  same, 
Cortes,  to  the  stupefaction  of  all,  to  the  rage  of  many,  but 
to  the  joy  of  some,  had  the  supreme  audacity  to  set  the  cap- 
tives free,  to  smash  the  idols,  and  to  seize  the  persons  of  the 
chiefs.  Did  he  execute  the  chiefs? — No;  for  he  knew  the 
ways  of  the  natives.  Had  he  slain  them,  new  chiefs  would 
at  once  have  been  elected,  and  the  day  might  have  gone 
against  him;  but  by  keeping  them  alive,  he  retained  them 
in  their  official  positions,  and  no  successors  could  be  chosen. 
With  chiefs  who,  though  impotent,  were  alive  and  could 
not  be  superseded,  the  people  were  leaderless,  and  all  action 
on  their  part  paralyzed.  They  were  fain  to  stand  as  idle 
spectators  while  their  temples  were  purified  according  to 
Roman  Catholic  notions,  and  the  cross  of  Christ  (which  also, 
by  an  odd  coincidence,  happened  to  be  one  of  the  emblems 
of  Quetzalcoatl)  was  set  up  over  them.  What  could  any- 
body do?  Quetzalcoatl  was  perfectly  justified  in  substituting 
his  cult  for  that  of  Texcatlipoca ;  and  even  if  the  partisans 
of  the  latter  had  heart  to  resist  the  new-comer,  they  could 
do  nothing  without  a  chief  to  head  them. 

Upward  toward  the  empyrean  and  Mexico  climbed  Cortes 
and  his  men;  they  were  more  than  a  mile  above  the  sea. 
They  passed  towns  with  strange  names  —  Xicochimalco, 
Teoxihuacan,  Texotla,  Xocotlan.  In  the  matter  of  names, 
assuredly,  if  in  nothing  else,  the  ancient  Aztecs  could  claim 


THE   AGE   OF   CORTES  125 

originality;  we  find  nothing  in  the  Old  World  to  compare 
with  them  in  this  respect.  Xocotlan  was  a  place  of  some 
importance,  with  thirteen  pyramid  temples;  and  here  the 
inhabitants,  by  way  of  a  graceful  courtesy,  instead  of  send- 
ing forward  their  mayor  to  read  an  address  and  invite  the 
distinguished  strangers  to  a  dinner,  got  up  a  little  sacrifice 
of  fifty  victims,  in  whose  blood  they  dipped  cakes,  and 
offered  them  to  the  Spaniards  as  refreshment.  The  upland 
air  is  bracing,  and  breeds  appetite;  but  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  the  Spaniards  lunched  heartily  on  these  viands. 
They  kept  on  their  way  to  a  place  baptized  Iztacmixtitlan, 
a  resting-place  before  advancing  to  Tlascala,  one  of  the  most 
powerful  and  formidable  of  the  pueblos.  It  was  here  that 
they  were  to  meet  the  first  open  resistance;  and  upon  the 
issue  of  the  contest  would  hang  the  fortunes  of  Cortes.  The 
crisis  had  come.  : . 

The  pueblo  had  two  war-chiefs ;  and  they  were  diametri- 
cally opposed  in  their  views  as  to  what  should  be  done.  One 
of  them  was  for  regarding  the  Spaniards  as  manifest  gods, 
to  contend  against  whom  were  worse  than  vain;  as  well  try 
to  make  fire  burn  downward,  or  water  run  up  hill.  The 
other  chieftain  was  wedded  to  his  ancestral  idols;  he  was 
a  conservative  in  politics  and  religion,  and  a  disciple  of 
materialism  into  the  bargain.  It  might  be  that  the 
strangers  were  gods;  their  arrogance,  however,  was  the 
only  godly  attribute  they  had  thus  far  displayed.  But 
gods  or  not,  there  were  very  few  of  them;  whereas  the 
Tlascalans  were  innumerable,  and  they  had  never  been 
defeated.  There  was  at  least  a  fair  chance  that  the  in- 
vaders might  be  overwhelmed;  and  even  if  the  attempt 
should  fail,  it  would  not  be  the  end  of  all  things;  a  few 
thousand  warriors  slain,  that  was  all ;  and  the  general  situ- 
ation no  worse  than  it  was  before;  since,  if  they  did  not 
fight,  they  would  be  subjugated  anyway.  In  short,  the  ad- 
vocates of  battle  carried  the  day,  and  the  Tlascalan  army 
took  the  field.  How  many  of  them  there  were  we  cannot 
say ;  some  writers  put  it  at  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand ; 


126  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

Professor  Fiske,  who  will  not  be  stampeded,  does  not  believe 
there  were  more  than  five  thousand  at  most,  and  thinks  the 
result  of  the  battle  is  quite  as  wonderful  as  is  decent,  even 
then.  The  Tlascalans,  be  their  number  what  it  may,  were 
brought  to  battle  in  great  divisions,  probably  phratries, 
which  were  distinguished  one  from  another  by  the  color  of 
the  paint  with  which  they  beautified  themselves.  For  armor 
they  put  on  their  quilted  cotton  doublets,  grasped  their  hide 
shields  with  feather  trimmings,  and  fastened  leather  caps  on 
their  heads,  also  adorned  with  featherwork  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  simulate  snakes  and  jaguars.  For  weapons  of  offence 
they  carried  bows  and  arrows,  lances  with  copper  heads, 
slings  and  javelins,  and  swords  of  heavy  and  hard  wood, 
reinforced  with  sharp  edges  of  obsidian.  Had  the  Spaniards 
been  similarly  equipped,  this  narrative  would  never  have  been 
written;  but  of  what  avail  were  such  toys  against  firearms 
and  steel?  Moreover,  in  the  fighting  which  followed  during 
the  next  two  days,  and  was  of  a  desultory  character,  the 
Tlascalans  were  greatly  hampered  by  their  invincible  desire 
to  capture  their  foes  instead  of  merely  killing  them  off-hand ; 
they  wished  to  kill  and  eat  them  according  to  the  laws  of 
religion  and  gastronomy  after  the  battle  was  over.  Thus 
they  would  die  by  dozens  (or  by  thousands,  if  we  please)  in 
the  effort  to  surround  and  capture  a  single  Spanish  horse- 
man. The  effort  was  fruitless.  Not  a  man  of  the  invaders 
was  captured,  though  one  or  two  were  killed  (but  were 
buried  by  their  comrades,  in  the  interests  of  their  alleged 
deityship),  and  several  were  wounded.  After  the  two  days 
were  over,  therefore,  the  Tlascalans  could  only  suppose  that 
mortal  Aztec  could  make  no  impression  on  the  steel  hides  of 
these  supernatural  invaders.  One  hope,  however,  remained, 
in  the  opinion  of  the  soothsaj^ers :  allowing  that  these  people 
were  children  of  the  sun,  might  it  not  be  that  the  light  of 
that  star  was  essential  to  their  invulnerability?  In  that  case, 
all  one  had  to  do  was  to  attack  them  after  dark.  In  order 
to  make  assurance  doubly  sure,  and  to  be  on  the  safe  side 
in  case  the  reasoning  of  the  soothsayers  should  prove  faulty, 


THE   AGE   O*    CORTES  127 

spies  were  sent  to  the  Spanish  camp  to  lull  the  suspicions  of 
the  enemy  asleep  with  soothing  words;  some  of  them  were 
to  report  back  with  whatever  information  they  could  gather, 
the  rest  to  set  fire  to  the  effects  of  the  invaders  at  a  pre- 
arranged signal. 

But  Cortes  was  a  natural  soothsayer  himself,  and  could 
see  quite  as  far  into  a  millstone  as  the  acutest  of  the  Tlas- 
calans.  No  sooner  had  the  spies  entered  the  camp,  with  an 
assumed  meekness  of  demeanor  which  they  were  persuaded 
was  impenetrable,  than  they  found  themselves  seized,  bound, 
and  dragged  before  the  terrible  white  captain  for  examina- 
tion. His  eyes,  sternly  regarding  them,  made  their  bosoms 
feel  like  translucent  glass,  and  turned  their  bowels  to  water 
within  them.  The  secret  must  out;  they  collapsed  and  con- 
fessed. Cortes,  after  the  sun  had  set,  sent  back  the  spies 
whence  they  came  (retaining  only  their  thumbs)  with  the 
information  that  the  children  of  the  sun  were  just  as  invin- 
cible after  dark  as  at  noonday.  And  without  undue  delay, 
he  followed  up  the  messengers  with  a  cavalry  charge;  the 
helpless  Tlascalans,  distilled  almost  to  a  jelly  with  the  act 
of  fear,  flying  before  the  man-monsters,  ventre  a  terre.  But 
many  of  them  were  slain ;  and  those  who  escaped  sought  the 
only  solace  possible  in  the  circumstances ;  they  caught  and 
cooked  the  soothsayers,  and  put  them  where  they  could  cause 
no  worse  evil  than  an  indigestion.  "Whether  indigestion  in- 
deed supervened,  we  know  not;  but  the  next  morning  the 
chiefs  of  Tlascala  saw  a  new  light,  and  besought  their  con- 
querors to  accept  them  as  allies  in  whatever  further  exploits 
they  might  be  contemplating.  The  proffer  was  accepted; 
and  the  race  of  the  Aztecs  admitted  that  the  combination 
must  prove  irresistible.  Nobody,  till  now,  had  been  able 
to  overcome  the  Tlascalans;  the  sun-children  had  beaten 
them  without  an  effort;  who  then  should  stand  against  the 
twain  united?  The  doom  of  Tenochtitlan  was  at  hand,  and 
the  march  against  it  was  already  begun,  the  steel  invaders 
marching  first,  while  the  cotton-quilted  but  formidable  Tlas- 
calans followed  cloud-like  in  their  rear.  The  latter  were 


128  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

presently  to  realize  that  the  Spaniards  were  not  altogether 
so  god-like  as  they  had  pretended;  but  the  alliance  held, 
nevertheless,  for  the  interests  of  the  two  parties  to  it  were 
at  first  identical. 

The  first  step  toward  Tenochtitlan  was  the  great  pueblo 
of  Cholula,  a  member  of  the  confederacy,  and  vowed  to  the 
service  of  Quetzalcoatl.  Yet  although  the  Fair  God  was 
their  especial  god,  their  hobby-god,  as  it  were,  they  do  not 
appear  to  have  had  any  very  realizing  sense  of  him,  as  of 
a  deity  likely  to  reappear  in  human  incarnation  from  the 
region  of  the  rising  sun,  about  this  time.  They  paid  his 
image  conventional  respect,  as  an  image;  but  did  not  look 
for  him  to  get  down  from  his  pedestal,  and  come  riding  into 
their  pueblo  in  steel  armor,  with  other  bearded  deities  in  his 
train.  In  fact,  the  Cholulans  seem  to  have  been  of  a  more 
sceptical  complexion,  in  regard  to  these  sun-children,  than 
any  others  of  the  dwellers  of  the  plateau ;  that  the  Spanish 
were  dangerous  and  objectionable  persons  they  admitted ;  but 
that  they  were  supernatural,  they  implicitly  questioned. 
And  even  with  the  example  of  the  hitherto  redoubtable 
Tlascalans  before  their  eyes,  these  Cholulans  flattered  them- 
selves that  they  would  teach  the  sun  men  a  lesson.  They 
thought  to  make  a  ragout  of  Cortes  and  his  men  and  horses ; 
instead  of  which  occurred  the  Massacre  of  Cholula,  famous 
hi  history,  but  not  so  abominable  a  matter  as  many  other 
transactions  in  which  Spaniards,  before  and  since,  have  been 
agents.  Cortes  behaved  very  much  as  the  cogency  of  circum- 
stances compelled  him;  with  resolution,  sagacity  and  courage 
into  the  bargain.  But  the  tale  is  a  little  complicated. 

We  have  said  that  the  Cholulans  were  members  of  the 
confederacy;  but  this  should  be  explained.  Properly,  the 
confederacy,  as  we  have  seen,  consisted  of  but  three — Te- 
nochtitlan, Tezcuco,  and  Tlacopan.  But  when  the  rumor 
of  the  invincible  strangers  began  to  come  from  the  coast, 
the  minds  of  the  local  statesmen  became  occupied  with  ways 
and  means  of  encountering  them  to  the  best  advantage ;  and 
Tenochtitlan,  remembering  *he  Tlascalans  and  the  disgrun- 


THE    AGE    OF    CORTES  129 

tied  eastern  towns,  cast  about  for  some  fresh  ally  or  buffer 
nearer  home  to  obstruct  the  advance  of  the  enemy  withal. 
Now  the  Cholulans  had  until  lately  been  hostile  to  Mexico, 
and  either  party  was  more  prone  to  kill  and  eat  the  other, 
upon  opportunity,  than  to  exchange  the  offices  of  friendship. 
But  in  the  shadow  of  a  peril  so  exceptional  as  now  threat- 
ened, these  hereditary  foes  felt  inclined  to  make  common 
cause,  if  only  to  insure  each  other  the  privilege  of  mutual 
cannibalism  hereafter;  and  messengers  were  sent  from  Mex- 
ico to  Cholula,  offering  some  such  proposition,  and  making 
suggestions  as  to  what  should  be  done.  For  the  time  being, 
then,  and  subject  to  conditions  and  precautions,  a  sort  of  al- 
liance was  concluded  between  the  two ;  and  a  plot  to  destroy 
the  invaders  partly  devised.  The  road  to  Mexico  lay  through 
Cholula;  but  there  was  also  an  alternative  route,  through 
another  pueblo;  and  at  first  blush  one  would  expect  that  the 
invaders  would  be  persuaded  to  go  by  that  route  rather  than 
Cholula  way.  But  it  so  happened  that  this  other  pueblo  was 
not  only  an  enemy  of  Mexico,  but  an  irreconcilable  one;  and 
it  was  considered  that  should  the  Spaniards  enter  that  town, 
the  result  would  be  that  it,  as  well  as  the  Tlascalans,  would 
enlist  under  their  banner.  Consequently  prudence  dictated 
that  Cortes  must  be  invited  to  visit  Cholula ;  and,  once  with- 
in their  gates,  care  must  be  taken  that  he  did  not  emerge 
thence  alive. 

In  studying  the  details  of  this  affair,  one  is  struck  with 
the  looseness  of  the  strategy,  and  the  many  and  fatal  loop- 
holes left  by  the  plotters  for  being  found  out  and  countered. 
For  even  could  they  hoodwink  Cortes — not  a  hopeful  under- 
taking— how  could  they  expect  to  deceive  his  Tlascalan  al- 
lies, who  were  acquainted  of  course  with  all  native  devices, 
and  would  not  fail  to  put  the  stranger  upon  his  guard?  Be- 
sides, what  other  interpretation  could  one  put  upon  trenches 
and  ditches  cut  across  the  main  street  of  the  pueblo,  than 
that  they  were  designed  to  obstruct  the  movements  of  men 
and  horses  in  combat  or  charge? — and  the  piles  of  sling-stones 
on  the  flat  roofs  of  the  houses  along  the  way,  though  it  might 


130  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

be  "the  custom"  to  keep  them  there,  were  at  the  juncture 
not  reassuring.  Moreover,  here  seemed  to  be  a  wondrous 
multitude  of  people  assembled ;  hundreds  of  thousands,  ap- 
parently; they  lined  the  road  for  miles  and  thronged  the 
roofs.  It  is  true,  as  scrupulous  Mr.  Bandelier  and  others 
remark,  that  this  multitude  was  enormously  exaggerated  by 
the  Spanish  narrators,  on  the  same  principle  that  a  modern 
theatre  audience  is  expected  to  be  so  obliging  as  to  believe 
that  the  squad  of  six  men-at-arms  which  continually  passes 
and  repasses  across  the  stage,  is  in  fact  an  innumerable  host ; 
in  short,  this  endless  crowd  of  Cholulans  were  continually 
the  same  crowd  reproduced  in  successive  places  along  the 
Spanish  line  of  march:  whether  with  malice  aforethought 
to  deceive,  or  as  simply  anxious  to  observe  the  queer 
strangers  as  often  as  possible.  Mr.  Bandelier  will  not 
admit  that  there  were  more  than  twenty-five  thousand 
Cholulans  at  that  time  extant,  though  a  superficial  glance 
at  the  town  or  pueblo  might  easily  lead  one  to  imagine  that 
there  might  be  more.  Houses  were  indeed  distributed  over 
a  large  area ;  but  in  the  first  place  not  more  than  two-thirds 
or  three-fourths  of  them  were  inhabited;  and  then  there  were 
larger  vacant  places  between  the  several  constitutive  settle- 
ments or  hamlets  than  would  be  the  case  in  Europe.  The 
houses  were  of  one  story,  flat-roofed ;  and  in  the  centre  of 
the  town  rose  a  high,  artificial  hill,  or  ruined  pyramid  per- 
haps, now  overgrown  with  vegetation,  and  surmounted  by 
small  temples.  It  was  in  these  temples  that  the  sacrifices 
were  performed.  In  addition  to  the  private  houses,  there 
were  also  larger  composite  buildings,  enclosing  square  courts 
with  thick  walls,  and  consisting  of  numerous  private  dwell- 
ings joined  together.  One  of  these  was  quite  large  enough 
to  accommodate  the  entire  Spanish  army,  and  in  such  a  one 
they  were  in  fact  domiciled. 

Two  invitations  to  visit  Cholula  were  sent  to  Cortes  by 
the  council ;  but  it  is  open  to  us  to  believe  that  the  first  one 
was  not  official  in  the  full  sense,  but  was  put  forth  by  cer- 
tain chiefs  who  were  disposed  really  to  secure  the  friendship 


THE    AGE    OF   CORTES  131 

of  the  Spaniards.  But  Cortes  seems  to  have  been  dissatisfied 
with  its  informal  character,  and  sent  the  emissaries  back  with 
a  demand  that  he  receive  an  invitation  with  all  the  honors. 
Accordingly,  a  second  and  much  larger  deputation  was  de- 
spatched to  meet  him,  with  gifts  and  polite  assurances;  and 
Cortes  for  his  part  instituted  ceremonies  with  a  view  to  re- 
ceiving Cholula  as  vassal  of  the  Spanish  crown.  But  the 
chiefs  who  took  the  prescribed  oaths  did  so  with  a  light 
heart,  inasmuch  as  they  could  not  be  binding  on  them  in 
the  first  place  (they  not  having  been  empowered  by  the  tribe 
to  enter  into  any  such  compact) ;  and,  in  the  second  place, 
they  did  not  rightly  comprehend  what  the  object  of  the 
ceremony  was.  Only,  if  it  led  the  Spaniards  to  imagine 
that  they  were  safe,  so  much  the  better.  Thus  there  was, 
to  a  degree,  a  game  of  cross-purposes ;  but  practically  neither 
side  trusted  the  other ;  and  the  Tlascalans  did  not  fail  to  warn 
Cortes  that  he  would  be  betrayed.  Cortes  was  already  of  the 
same  way  of  thinking ;  but  it  would  not  do  for  him  to  show 
misgiving  at  this  stage;  he  must  on,  and  deal  with  the  crisis 
when  it  came  as  best  he  might.  On  the  outskirts  of  the 
town,  the  Tlascalans  were  obliged  to  halt,  as  being  heredi- 
tary enemies  of  the  Cholulans,  who  could  not  enter  their 
pueblo.  But  Cortes  was  able  to  maintain  communication 
with  them;  and  it  was  understood  between  them  and  him 
that  when  the  guns  were  heard  they  should  rush  in  and 
take  a  hand  in  the  battle. 

Forward  now  went  the  compact  mass  of  the  four  hundred 
and  fifty  Spaniards,  alone,  wedged  in  between  the  thousands 
of  their  treacherous  hosts.  Mr.  Bandelier,  who  has  made  a 
study  of  Cholula,  gives  us  a  good  picture  of  this  barbarous 
assemblage.  "Women  in  their  ancient  dress,  with  their  hair 
done  up  in  the  style  of  a  turban ;  the  short  upil  or  sleeveless 
waistcoat,  made  of  cotton  cloth  and  embroidered  with  red, 
black  and  white  figures,  through  which  the  head  and  neck 
projected,  and  beneath  it  a  skirt,  girt  round  the  body.  The 
men,  except  the  officers,  bareheaded,  in  white  robes,  and 
also  embroidered  jackets;  on  the  heads  of  the  principal  offi- 


132  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

cers,  the  half-mitre,  adorned  with  colored  feathers,  colored 
stones,  and  shells;  the  priests  in  black;  all  the  faces  painted 
in  festive  style,  that  is,  hideously  striped,  those  of  the  com- 
mon people  with  cochineal  on  the  cheeks  and  forehead,  and 
those  of  higher  chiefs  with  green,  blue  and  yellow;  and  the 
faces  of  the  priests  black,  with  white  rings  round  the  eyes 
and  mouth.  Added  to  these  features  were  the  noise  of  large 
and  small  drums,  the  squeaking  of  pipes,  the  roaring,  thump- 
ing sound  of  the  'Tozacatl, '  and  the  clattering  of  many 
rattles.  The  Spaniards  marched  slowly  along  in  the  midst 
of  this  uproar,  while  the  horses  walked  under  their  armored 
riders.  ...  A  festival  less  formal  and  ceremonious  than 
historians  have  represented  it,  but  still  extraordinary,  gor- 
geous, and  strange  enough." 

They  marched,  as  the  Cholulans  believed  and  intended, 
to  their  doom;  as  they  themselves  felt,  to  a  battle;  and 
Cortes  also  believed,  though  as  it  proves  without  good 
grounds,  that  the  Cholulans  were  supported  by  ten  or 
twenty  thousand  soldiers  from  Tenochtitlan.  He  noted, 
too,  that  all  the  women  and  children  were  being  withdrawn 
from  the  town,  which  indicated,  of  course,  that  fisticuffs 
were  in  the  wind.  That  he  was  very  fully  informed  of  all 
that  was  planning  for  his  destruction  is  certain ;  and  if  other 
means  of  informing  himself  had  been  lacking,  he  could  rely 
upon  the  Tabasco  girl,  Malina,  his  interpreter  and  mistress, 
a  clever  and  faithful  wench,  proficient  in  both  the  Maya  and 
Nahuatl  languages,  who  probably  saved  her  lover's  life  sev- 
eral times  over  in  the  exciting  days  and  months  that  fol- 
lowed. Her  importance  to  the  cavalier  was  recognized  by 
the  Aztecs,  who  called  Cortes  himself  Malinche — the  master 
(or  appurtenance)  of  Malina.  She  imports  into  the  story  of 
the  conquest  of  Mexico  the  single  thread  of  love  romance 
which  it  contains;  though  of  the  other  kinds  of  romance 
there  is  enough.  It  must  be  admitted,  too,  that  Cortes  ap- 
pears in  the  attitude  of  the  beneficiary  throughout;  Malina 
does  everything  for  him ;  he  does  nothing  for  Malina,  except 
let  her  do  everything. 


THE   AGE   OF   CORTES  133 

As  an  illustration  of  the  barbaric  child-likeness  of  the 
Aztecs,  the  incident  of  Malina  and  the  "old  woman"  is  per- 
tinent. Malina  was  regarded  by  the  natives  as  a  Nahuatl 
girl,  and  as  secretly  friendly  to  their  cause;  moreover,  she 
was  obviously  rich,  for  she  carried  much  of  her  eleemosynary 
wealth  exposed  about  her  person.  She  was  therefore  a  desir- 
able match;  and  the  "old  woman"  had  marked  her  down  as 
such ;  and  while  the  Spaniards  were  iii  Cholula,  she  secretly 
opened  negotiations  with  her  in  the  interest  of  her  son.  As 
an  argument  in  favor  of  the  latter,  she  disclosed  to  Malina 
the  fact  that  the  annihilation  of  the  Spaniards  was  intended, 
and  pointed  out  the  peril  in  which  Malina  stood,  unless  she 
severed  herself  from  them  betimes.  Malina  was  not  scared, 
but  she  seemed  to  be  deeply  interested,  and  besought  the  old 
woman  to  give  her  all  the  details  of  the  plot ;  which  the  poor 
lady,  nothing  doubting,  did.  From  this  conference  Malina 
went  light-footed  to  Cortes,  and  imparted  the  facts,  which 
tallied  with  information  which  Cortes  had  already  derived 
from  certain  priests  whom  he  had  put  to  the  question.  The 
old  woman  and  her  son,  the  prospective  rival  of  Cortes  in 
Malina's  affections,  were  promptly  secured,  and  it  is  to  be 
feared  the}r  were  treated  with  true  Spanish  gallantry.  Cortes 
was  now  ready  to  act. 

In  order  to  throw  the  Cholulans  off  their  guard,  Cortes 
had  already  taken  measures  to  convince  their  chiefs  that  he 
was  off  his  guard  entirely ;  he  had  courteously  chided  them 
for  giving  him  so  little  of  their  society  during  his  stay,  and 
had  requested  them  to  furnish  him  with  a  military  escort 
and  porters  for  his  march  to  Mexico,  which  he  would  begin 
the  next  morning.  The  poor  chiefs,  hugely  tickled  at  the 
seeming  success  of  their  own  treachery,  were  quite  blind 
to  that  of  the  Spaniard,  and  there  was  a  sort  of  love-feast 
between  these  two  parties  who  were  longing  to  be  at  each 
other's  throats.  The  morning  came.  The  Spanish  soldiers 
were  drawn  up  in  order,  the  guns  were  loaded,  Cortes  was 
on  his  horse,  with  Malina  by  his  side;  all  was  ready.  The 
guards  now  admitted  the  smiling  Cholulans  into  the  court, 


134  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

and   in   they  thronged   by  hundreds,   wedging  themselves 
tightly  round  that  steel-clad  band  who  stood  so  grim  in  the 
midst,  with  their  fierce  eyes  bent  on  their  leader,  who,  with 
a  serene  countenance,  intimated  that,  before  setting  out,  it 
would  gratify  him  to  have  speech  with  the  chiefs,  some  thirty 
in  number,  who  had  been  chiefly  in  evidence  during  his  stay ; 
he  wished  to  bid  them  farewell  and  to  beseech  their  blessing. 
Now  these  chiefs — or  some  of  them ;  for  there  were  still 
two  parties  in  Cholula,  one  intending  the  massacre  of  the 
Spaniards,  the  other  advising  alliance  with  them — some  of 
these  chiefs  were  so  certain  that,  within  a  few  hours,  they 
would  be  dining  off  their  visitors  on  the  summit  of  the  sacri- 
ficial hill,  that  they  accepted  Cortes's  polite  invitation  with 
alacrity.     With  them,  Cortes  withdrew  into  a  private  place, 
and  there,  with  the  calmness  and  lack  of  passion  which  it 
was  his  pleasure  to  show  in  such  crises,  regaled  them  with 
a  minute  account  of  their  plot  from  beginning  to  end ;  and 
'even  went  so  far  as  to  pick  out  from  the  thirty  those  chiefs 
who  had  been  most  active  in  it.     One  can  see  the  eyes  of 
these  unfortunates  dilate,  and  their  jaws  relax,  as  they  lis- 
tened to  words  which  proved  to  them  that  the  sun-people 
were  gods,  and  omniscient,  after  all.     Cortes  added  that  it 
had  been  suggested  to  him  that  Montezuma  was  privy  to  the 
plot;  but  such  a  charge  he  refused  to  credit;  he  was  too  well 
assured  of  the  noble  character  of  that  prince.     This  remark 
was  thrown  in  to  keep  the  Mexican  envoys  quiet;  for  the 
far-seeing  Spaniard  knew  that  he  would  need  all  his  sagac- 
ity, as  well  as  all  his  strength,  in  dealing  with  Teuochtitlan 
hereafter. 

The  interview  over,  the  signal  for  slaughter  was  given, 
the  cannon  belched  fire,  and  the  shot  tore  through  the 
wedged  masses  in  the  square.  The  noise  itself  was  fearful 
enough;  it  had  never  before  been  heard  in  Cholula;  but  the 
deadly  effect  was  beyond  all  forecast.  The  great  square 
soon  became  a  frightful  shambles  of  dead  and  dying,  wading 
amid  which  the  Spanish  soldiers  soon  became  painted  with 
hot  blood;  and  upon  it  all  the  clear  October  suii  looked 


THE    AGE    OF    CORTES  135 

down,  as  if  in  approval  of  his  children's  action.  Hither  and 
thither,  without  and  within  the  court  of  death,  charged  the 
steel-clad  horsemen,  and  at  every  leap  their  swords  rose  and 
fell,  and  another  Aztec  life  went  out.  Meanwhile  the  Tlas- 
calans,  taking  their  cue  from  the  uproar,  rushed  into  the 
town,  and  began  a  slaughter  on  their  own  account.  It  was 
warm  work,  but  pleasant  to  all  save  the  Cholulans;  and  it 
lasted  five  hours.  The  main  body  of  the  natives  fled  to  the 
mound  now  called  Cerro  de  la  Cruz,  more  than  half  a  mile 
from  the  court ;  and  made  their  last  stand  there ;  when  they 
were  dead,  the  resistance  ended.  The  doomed  chiefs  were 
now  brought  forth,  and,  as  an  artistic  climax,  burned  at  the 
stake,  to  encourage  the  others.  How  many  Cholulans  were 
slain,  in  all?  No  one  knows;  Las  Casas  says,  six  thousand; 
Professor  Fiske  will  not  believe  in  more  than  five  hundred; 
others  split  the  difference.  We  are  absolutely  at  liberty  to 
take  our  choice,  according  to  our  temperament  and  preju- 
dices. The  more  pertinent  question  is,  Were  the  Spaniards 
justified  in  what  they  did? — and  the  verdict  of  the  most  con- 
siderate seems  to  say  that  they  were.  "When  it  comes  to  a 
choice  between  massacring  and  being  massacred,  few  persons 
will  hesitate  in  making  their  selection.  It  is  true  that  we 
have  only  Spanish  sources  of  information  as  to  the  prelimi- 
naries which  introduced  the  event;  it  is  conceivable  that  the 
story  about  the  Cholulan  plot  may  have  been  manufactured 
to  suit  the  occasion.  But  this  is  far  from  likely;  and  we  are 
pretty  safe  in  concluding  that  this  was  an  instance  of  being 
hoist  with  one's  own  petard.  Besides,  Cortes  displayed  his 
clemency  by  releasing  the  many  persons  who  were  being 
fattened  in  cages  by  the  Cholulans  for  future  sacrifices;  he 
had  no  use  for  them  himself,  and  did  not  see  why  he  should 
omit  so  good  a  chance  of  making  native  friends. 

From  Cholula  the  Spaniards  continued  their  march,  their 
baptism  of  blood  having  been  thoroughly  performed.  Pass- 
ing several  pueblos,  some  of  which,  built  in  the  Venetian 
style  with  canals  for  streets,  and  with  sparkling  buildings  of 
white  gypsum,  gratified  their  love  of  the  picturesque,  they 


136  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

arrived  on  the  7th  of  November,  1519,  at  Ixtapalapan,  on  the 
border  of  the  lake  amid  which  stood  Tenochtitlan.  The  sight 
was  impressive  and  beautiful,  and  stimulated  the  annalist  of 
the  march,  Bernal  Diaz,  to  expressions  of  admiration.  Says 
he,  "When  we  beheld  so  many  cities  and  towns  rising  up 
from  the  water,  and  other  populous  places  standing  on  terra 
firma,  and  that  causeway,  straight  as  a  level,  which  led  into 
Mexico,  we  remained  astonished,  and  said  one  to  another  that 
it  was  like  the  enchanted  castles  of  Amadis,  by  reason  of  the 
great  towers,  temples  and  edifices  which  were  in  the  water, 
all  of  them  the  work  of  masonry.  Some  of  our  soldiers  asked 
if  what  they  saw  were  not  the  fabric  of  a  dream." 

"It  may  well  be  called,"  comments  Professor  Fiske,  per- 
mitting himself  one  of  his  rare  seizures  of  enthusiasm,  "the 
most  romantic  moment  in  all  history,  this  moment  when  Eu- 
ropean eyes  first  rested  upon  that  city  of  wonders,  the  chief 
ornament  of  a  stage  of  social  evolution  two  full  ethnic  periods 
behind  their  own.  To  say  that  it  was  like  stepping  back  across 
the  centuries  to  visit  the  Nineveh  of  Sennacherib  or  hundred- 
gated  Thebes  is  but  inadequately  to  depict  the  situation,  for 
it  was  a  longer  step  than  that.  Such  chances  do  not  come 
twice  to  mankind,  for  when  two  grades  of  culture  so  widely 
separated  are  brought  into  contact,  the  stronger  is  apt  to 
blight  and  crush  the  weaker  where  it  does  not  amend  and 
transform  it.  In  spite  of  its  foul  abominations,  one  some- 
times feels  that  one  would  like  to  recall  that  extinct  state 
of  society  in  order  to  study  it.  The  devoted  lover  of  his- 
tory, who  ransacks  all  sciences  for  aid  toward  understanding 
the  course  of  human  events,  who  knows  in  what  unexpected 
ways  one  stage  of  progress  often  illustrates  other  stages,  will 
sometimes  wish  it  were  possible  to  resuscitate,  even  for  one 
brief  year,  the  vanished  City  of  the  Cactus  Rock.  Could 
such  a  work  of  enchantment  be  performed,  however,  our 
first  feeling  would  doubtless  be  one  of  ineffable  horror  and 
disgust,  like  that  of  the  knight  in  the  old  English  ballad, 
who,  folding  in  his  arms  a  damsel  of  radiant  beauty,  finds 
himself  in  the  embrace  of  a  loathsome  fiend!" 


THE    AGE    OF    CORTES  137 

After  such  an  excursion  into  the  realms  of  imagination, 
our  Professor  takes  himself  severely  in  hand,  and  tells  us 
just  what  the  magic  city  of  Mexico  actually  was;  and  in 
this  masterly  analysis  of  evidence  we  cannot  do  better  than 
accept  most  of  his  conclusions. 

The  city  stood  at  a  distance  from  the  shores  of  the  lake 
of  nowhere  less  than  three  miles ;  access  was  had  to  it  by 
means  of  three  causeways,  from  four  to  six  miles  in  length, 
and  about  twenty-five  feet  wide.  The  causeways  were  inter- 
rupted, near  the  city,  by  wooden  drawbridges,  which  could 
be  raised  at  a  minute's  warning;  and  any  one  walking  on 
them  would  of  course  be  exposed  to  attacks  from  canoes  on 
the  water.  Entering  the  city,  the  causeways  became  streets, 
which  met  in  the  centre,  where,  surrounded  by  a  massive 
stone  wall  eight  feet  in  height,  was  a  vast  court,  containing 
some  twenty  truncated  pyramids,  for  the  sacrifices.  The 
largest  of  these  was  not  less  tban  one  hundred  feet  in  height. 
It  was  ascended  by  steps;  but  the  total  ascent  was  divided 
into  five  stages,  each  stage  affording  a  platform  or  terrace 
entirely  encircling  the  pyramid,  so  that  the  sacrificial  pro- 
cessions, going  up  the  first  flight  of  steps,  could  then  turn  to 
the  right,  and  go  up  the  steps  on  the  next  adjoining  side;  on 
the  second  terrace  another  partial  circumvagation  would  be 
made,  until,  by  the  time  the  summit  was  reached,  the  entire 
pyramid  had  been  environed;  with  great  enhancement  of 
the  scenic  effect.  Whether  the  latter  was  the  object  of  the 
builders,  remarks  Professor  Fiske,  we  cannot  determine;  but 
at  all  events  that  was  the  result. 

The  mountain  of  Chapultepec,  afterward  famous  as  the 
scene  of  a  battle  between  antagonists  very  different  from 
those  we  are  at  present  considering,  rose  close  to  the  south- 
west margin  of  the  lake ;  and  from  it  an  aqueduct  was  built 
to  the  city ;  which,  inasmuch  as  the  waters  of  the  lake  itself 
were  salt,  was  an  important  element  in  the  situation.  The 
streets  of  the  city,  other  than  the  causeway  continuations, 
were  generally  canals,  crowded  with  canoes,  and  bearing  a 
strong  resemblance,  of  course,  to  the  canals  of  Venice,  which 


138  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

were  then  famous  all  over  the  civilized  world.  But  the  ca- 
noes of  the  Aztecs,  instead  of  being  black,  like  the  Venetian 
gondolas,  were  brightly  decorated  with  paint  and  feathers; 
and  the  buildings  which  looked  down  upon  them  were  as 
lustrous,  in  the  sunshine,  as  the  palaces  of  the  Queen  of  the 
Adriatic,  though  of  course  entirely  lacking  in  the  beauty 
of  Italian  architecture.  These  buildings  were  uniformly  of 
vast  size,  containing,  each  of  them,  at  least  as  many  as  two 
hundred  inhabitants;  they  were  built  of  blocks  of  red  stone, 
generally  overlaid  with  white  cement ;  the  height  was  never 
more  than  two  stories,  and  they  enclosed  spacious  courts. 
The  windows  on  the  outside  were  mere  loopholes;  the  flat 
roofs  were  surrounded  by  low  stone  parapets,  interrupted 
occasionally  by  towers;  all  with  a  view  to  defence.  Con- 
sidering that  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  were  much  scamped 
for  room,  their  scheme  of  building  does  not  seem  economical ; 
but  in  that  warm  climate  it  was  probably  the  only  feasible 
one  for  decent  comfort.  Yet  it  seems  as  if  a  third  story 
might  have  been  added;  and  if  we  are  to  believe  the  as- 
sertion that  most  of  the  houses  were  surrounded  by  gardens 
containing  flowers,  we  can  only  suppose  that  the  inhabitants 
preferred  such  gardens  to  living-room.  Flowers  certainly 
were  the  favorite  luxury  of  this  people;  besides  these  exter- 
nal flower-gardens,  the  roofs  were  often  covered  with  them ; 
and  in  the  lake,  round  about  the  city,  were  moored  immense 
rafts,  or  floating  gardens,  covered  with  black  loam,  on  which 
plants  and  vegetables  were  grown.  Flowers  were  used  for 
ceremonial  and  sacrificial  purposes,  but  they  were  also  loved 
for  their  own  sake;  and  there  is  extant  a  native  poem  to 
prove  it.  "They  led  me  within  a  valley  to  a  fertile  spot," 
sings  the  poet,  "a  flowery  spot,  where  the  dew  spread  out 
a  glittering  splendor,  where  I  saw  various  lovely  fragrant 
flowers,  lovely  odorous  flowers,  clothed  with  dew,  scattered 
around  in  rainbow  glory;  there  they  said  to  me,  'Pluck  the 
flowers,  whichever  thou  wishest,  mayest  thou  the  singer  be 
glad,  and  give  them  to  thy  friends,  to  the  chiefs,  that  they 
may  rejoice  on  the  earth.'  "  Of  the  houses  there  are  sup- 


THE    AGE    OF    CORTES  139 

posed  to  have  been  about  three  hundred,  containing  an  ag- 
gregate of  sixty  thousand  people.  Doors  there  were  none ; 
for  doors  are  an  appanage  of  civilization,  and  had  therefore 
not  yet  been  invented  in  Mexico;  though  one  might  surmise 
that  no  doors,  or  portieres  of  cotton  or  bamboo,  might  be 
more  comfortable  there  than  doors  with  latches  and  locks — 
which  last,  again,  would  hardly  be  worth  while  in  a  society 
where  the  right  of  private  property  was  so  imperfectly  rec- 
ognized. The  doorways  could  be  barricaded  at  need,  how- 
ever; and  cotton  and  feathered  screens  or  hangings  were 
common.  Birds  of  brilliant  plumage  abounded  in  the  coun- 
try, and  the  people  were  as  fond  of  them  as  of  flowers,  and 
used  their  feathers  constantly  in  decoration  and  adornment. 
Truly,  with  the  flowers  and  the  feathers,  the  canoes  and  the 
white  cement,  the  moving  crowds  and  the  sunshine,  Tenoch- 
titlan  must  have  showed  a  splendid  front  to  the  Spanish 
invaders ! 

Mexico  and  the  adjoining  countries  afford  many  varieties 
of  ornamental  woods,  and  these  were  employed  for  the  inte- 
rior fittings  of  the  houses,  cedar  predominating.  The  walls 
were  hung  with  tapestries  woven  of  humming-bird  skins, 
parrots,  pheasants,  cardinal-birds;  there  was  little  furniture,, 
beyond  low  tables  and  stools;  beds  consisted  of  palm-leaf 
mats  laid  one  on  another  on  the  floor.  Cushions,  in  the 
Oriental  fashion,  were  used  to  sit  on  at  meals,  the  dining- 
tables  being  set  round  the  room,  and  the  guests  reclining 
or  sitting  with  their  backs  against  the  wall.  In  the  middle 
of  the  room,  at  meal-times,  stood  a  burning  brazier,  into 
which,  before  eating  anything,  each  guest  threw  a  portion 
of  food  for  the  benefit  of  the  always  hungry  fire-god.  The 
food  was  various  and  well-cooked.  Of  vegetables  there  was 
a  good  choice;  Indian  meal  was  employed  in  divers  ways — 
beaten  up  with  eggs,  baked  as  bread,  and  covering  pies  as 
crust.  Pungent  sauces  were  used  in  the  stews  and  ragouts. 
There  was  plenty  of  fish,  and  animal  foods  to  which  our 
menus  are  strangers  were  eaten  by  the  epicures  with  a 

freedom  from  prejudice  which  reminds  one  of  the  Chinese 

» 


140  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

Ants  and  frog-spawn  were  favorites,  and  "a  fricassee  of  very 
young  children"  was  much  fancied;  it  was  held  superior  to 
any  other  preparations  of  human  flesh.  Next  to  human 
babies,  turkey  was  best  liked;  the  turkey  being  indigenous 
to  Mexico,  whence,  in  the  course  of  centuries,  it  has  spread 
over  civilization.  The  bird,  owing  to  the  popular  error  as 
to  the  geographical  location  of  America,  was  called  turkey  to 
indicate  its  supposed  Oriental  origin.  In  serving  the  viands, 
chafing  dishes  were  employed;  the  bowls  and  plates  were 
made  of  native  earthenware;  there  were  no  forks  or  spoons 
except  those  which  nature  has  provided  in  the  shape  of 
thumbs  and  fingers.  For  drink,  there  was  chocolate  fla- 
vored with  vanilla,  and,  as  an  intoxicant,  pulque,  made 
from  maguey  juice.  This  was  drunk  after  the  meal,  ac- 
companied by  pipes  and  tobacco.  Upon  the  whole,  the 
Aztecs  seem  to  have  been  by  no  means  averse  from  in- 
dulgence in  the  pleasures  of  the  table. 

There  were  no  shops  in  Mexico,  but  fairs  were  held  in 
two  large  market-places  twice  in  ten  days,  trade  being  con- 
ducted mainly  by  barter,  though  there  was  a  rudimentary 
currency  in  the  form  of  quills  filled  with  gold  dust,  and  bags 
of  cocoa  seed ;  also  bits  of  copper.  The  wares  were  brought 
to  town  on  litters,  the  only  Mexican  vehicle  except  canoes. 
All  manner  of  goods  were  offered;  building-tools  and  ma- 
terials, weapons,  mats,  stools,  cloths,  dyestuffs,  ornaments, 
pottery.  On  market  days  booths  were  erected  for  the  trial 
of  criminals,  and  the  operations  of  justice  were  quick  and 
severe.  Barbers'  shops  also  abounded,  and  the  Aztec  could 
get  his  thin  beard  shaved  with  razors  of  obsidian.  One  can 
easily  picture  the  lively  and  picturesque  scene;  a  strange, 
bloody-minded,  beauty-loving,  fierce,  self-indulgent  people, 
"half  devil  and  half  child." 

As  has  already  been  mentioned,  the  staple  article  of 
clothing  was  the  cotton  cloak  and  doublet  for  the  men, 
and  long  robe  for  the  women;  they  were  dyed,  fringed 
and  embroidered,  and  sashes  confined  them  at  the  waist. 
In  cold  weather  capes  and  jackets  of  fur  or  feathers  were 


THE    AGE    OF    CORTES  141 

worn ;  the  feet  were  shod  with  sandals,  and  instead  of  hats 
there  were  hoods  of  white  cotton.  Gold  and  silver  brace- 
lets, anklets,  earrings,  nose  rings  and  finger  rings  jingled 
and  shone,  as  to-day  in  India ;  the  hair  was  worn  long,  and 
was  dyed  purple  by  the  women ;  while  the  tawny  faces  were 
painted  red  or  yellow,  and  the  teeth  stained  with  cochineal. 
A  crowd  of  Mexicans  must  have  somewhat  resembled  a 
throng  of  glittering  birds  and  insects. 

The  chief  festival  and  ceremony  of  the  Mexicans,  and 
of  the  most  frequent  recurrence,  was  the  human  sacrifice. 
After  the  victims  had  been  fattened,  and  led  to  the  summit 
of  the  pyramid,  they  were  stretched  face  upward  on  a  large 
convex  block  of  jasper,  which  caused  the  chest  to  be  thrown 
upward,  thereby  rendering  it  easy  for  the  priest,  with  his 
sharp  stone  knife,  to  divide  it  with  a  slashing  blow,  and 
snatch  out  the  still  beating  heart,  which  was  the  especial 
tid-bit  for  the  god.  After  the  work  had  been  going  on  for 
a  while,  hearts  were  in  evidence  everywhere,  smoking  on 
the  various  altars;  while  the  rest  of  the  corpse  was  sent 
to  the  kitchens  below,  to  be  cooked  for  the  feast.  Hearts 
were  also,  occasionally,  put  between  the  god's  lips  with  a 
gold  spoon;  or  the  mouth  of  the  idol  was  merely  smeared 
with  blood.  The  entrails  were  given  to  the  rattlesnakes, 
which  were  kept  in  enclosures  in  great  quantity,  being  re- 
garded as  sacred,  and  other  refuse  parts  of  the  bodies  were 
fed  to  a  menagerie  of  beasts  kept  for  that  purpose.  Every 
part  of  the  sacred  buildings  was  drenched  and  painted  with 
fresh  blood ;  and  as  if  this  was  not  enough,  there  was  close 
by  a  structure  called  tzompantli,  which  is  described  by  Ban- 
croft as  "an  oblong  sloping  parallelogram  of  earth  and  ma- 
sonry, one  hundred  and  fifty-four  feet  at  the  base,  ascended 
by  thirty  steps,  on  each  of  which  were  skulls.  Round  the 
summit  were  upward  of  seventy  raised  poles  about  four  feet 
apart,  connected  by  numerous  rows  of  cross  poles  passed 
through  holes  in  the  masts,  on  each  of  which  five  skulls 
were  filed,  the  sticks  being  passed  through  the  temples.  In 
the  centre  stood  two  towers  or  columns  made  of  skulls  and 


142  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

lime,  the  face,  of  each  skull  being  turned  outward,  giving  a 
horrible  appearance  to  the  whole.  This  effect  was  height- 
ened by  leaving  the  heads  of  distinguished  captives  in  their 
natural  state,  with  hair  and  skin  on.  As  the  skulls  decayed, 
or  fell  from  the  towers  or  poles,  they  were  replaced  by  oth- 
ers, so  that  no  vacant  place  was  left."  Decidedly  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  sympathize  with  the  predilections  and  practices  of 
some  of  our  American  aborigines.  But  people  get  accus- 
tomed to  things  which  seem  at  first  revolting;  and  just  as 
the  Roman  populace  enjoyed  the  scenes  of  the  amphitheatre 
in  the  days  of  the  emperors,  and  as  contemporary  Spanish 
men  and  women  flock  with  enthusiasm  to  bull-fights,  so  no 
doubt  did  our  Aztec  predecessors  find  their  human  sacrifices 
pleasant  and  appetizing;  while  the  priests  who  did  the 
butchering  were  perhaps  ennuied,  and  needed  the  applause 
of  the  spectators  in  order  to  perform  their  functions  with 
spirit  and  zest.  The  work  must  really  have  been  arduous, 
if  we  are  to  believe  the  statement  of  a  native  historian,  who 
asserts  that  on  one  occasion  the  number  of  victims  footed  up 
to  eighty  thousand. 

Montezuma,  awed  by  the  supernatural  reputation  of  his 
visitors,  refurbished  by  their  late  Cholulan  exploit,  was  in 
an  uncertain  frame  of  mind  when  they  appeared  at  the  bor- 
ders of  his  domain,  and  requested  safe-conduct  into  the  city. 
That  he  did  not  want  them  under  his  roof  may  be  taken  for 
granted ;  but  it  is  no  less  plain  that  he  disliked  to  assume  the 
responsibility  of  sending  word  that  he  was  "not  at  home." 
For  aught  any  could  tell,  they  might  thereupon  rise  into  the 
air,  and  swoop  down  upon  him  thence ;  or  cause  their  father 
the  sun  to  shed  a  pestilence  upon  the  city,  or  burn  it  up  with 
fire.  There  was  no  time  to  spend  in  debating  the  matter; 
it  had  already  been  debated  again  and  again,  and  the  result 
had  always  been  that,  as  in  Cempoala,  two  opposite  opin- 
ions had  been  developed,  one  for  resistance  at  all  hazards, 
the  other  for  submission.  That  the  priests  of  the  gods 
hostile  to  Quetzal coatl  belonged  to  the  former  party  may 
be  safely  assumed;  since  the  advent  of  the  Spanish  must  be 


THE   AGE   OF   CORTES  143 

equally  objectionable  to  them,  whether  they  were  gods  or 
simply  human  adventurers;  and  the  possibility  that  resist- 
ance to  them  might  ultimately  lead  to  their  appearance  on 
the  jasper  block  was  too  alluring  to  be  contemplated  with 
equanimity.  Nevertheless,  the  counsels  of  the  temporizers 
prevailed ;  Cortes  was  waiting,  and  if  he  were  kept  waiting 
he  would  get  angry;  let  him  be  admitted!  Accordingly 
courteous  messages  were  sent  him,  and  the  steel-clad  army 
with  its  thousand  Tlascalan  allies  entered  the  causeway  ad- 
joining Ixtapalapan,  and  began  their  march  across  it.  And 
if  Montezuma  watched  their  approach  with  mixed  feelings, 
we  may  suppose  that  Cortes  was  hardly  less  a  prey  to  anx- 
iety. Seldom  has  it  fallen  to  the  lot  of  a  soldier  to  embark 
upon  so  hazardous  an  enterprise. 

Indeed  it  was  as  nearly  certain  as  anything  in  the  future 
can  be,  that  the  Spaniards  would  not  see  the  end  of  the  ad- 
venture without  fighting;  and  it  required  a  sanguine  and 
dauntless  temper  to  anticipate  a  favorable  issue  to  Buch  a 
fight.  The  Aztecs  outnumbered  them  at  least  a  hundred 
to  one,  and  after  making  all  allowances  for  the  Spanish 
superiority  of  arms  and  armor,  the  mere  brute  force  of 
numbers  was  enough  to  decide  the  victory.  Besides,  fight- 
ing in  a  city  can  never  be  to  the  advantage  of  the  stranger 
party;  in  a  hundred  ways  the  inhabitants  have  the  better 
of  it.  The  Spaniards  could  be  hemmed  in  within  a  certain 
area,  or  building,  and  prevented  from  getting  out  until  they 
were  either  starved  to  death,  or  gradually  destroyed  in  de- 
tail. Moreover,  the  supernatural  prestige  which  they  at 
first  enjoyed  could  not  fail  to  be  dissipated  in  time,  and 
when  the  persuasion  that  resistance  to  them  was  impossible 
or  impious  was  gone,  the  revulsion  of  feeling  would  make 
their  situation  more  precarious  than  if  they  had  confessed 
their  mortal  state  at  first.  No :  unless  in  the  event  of  some 
almost  inconceivable  good  fortune,  the  only  way  to  subdue 
Mexico  would  be,  in  the  end,  to  do  it  by  force;  in  other 
words,  each  individual  Spanish  soldier  must  face  the  pos- 
sibility of  having  to  kill  with  his  own  hand  from  fifty  to 


144  HISTORY   OF   SPANISH   AMERICA 

a  hundred  of  the  enemy.  It  was  a  desperate  chance;  but 
Cortes  was  just  the  man  to  accept  it.  In  fact,  now  that 
he  had  gone  so  far,  there  could  be  no  turning  back. 

Meanwhile,  all  was  politeness  on  both  sides,  and  assur- 
ances of  mutual  esteem.  The  strangers  entered  the  city, 
between  the  gazing,  fluttering,  glittering,  painted  crowds 
of  curious  and  excited  Aztecs  who  thronged  the  narrow 
streets  and  overflowed  on  the  roofs  of  the  great  houses; 
staring  with  such  consuming  interest  as  the  spectacle  of 
creatures  more  than  mortal  might  be  expected  to  inspire, 
yet  with  their  awe  mingled  with  distrust  and  animosity,  and 
with  the  characteristic  longing  to  see  these  white-faced  and 
long-bearded  tyrants  brought  to  submission  and  slaughter 
on  the  sacrificial  block.  With  murmurings,  shouts,  callings, 
pressings  forward,  shiftings,  stragglings,  gesticulations,  the 
many-hued  throng  heaved  and  swayed  to  give  them  passage, 
and  closed  upon  them  as  they  passed.  Onward  rolled  the 
great  procession,  Cortes  and  the  other  officers  visible  above 
the  rest  on  their  terrible  horses,  the  cannon  trundling  heavily 
along  the  cemented  streets,  the  men-at-arms  marching  rigidly 
aligned,  their  swords  clanking  at  their  thighs,  the  sun  glitter- 
ing on  their  head-pieces  and  breast-plates.  Rank  after  rank 
passed  on,  each  marching  within  a  sword's  length  of  its 
predecessor,  and  extending  perhaps  three-quarters  of  a  mile 
in  all;  then  followed  the  Tlascalans,  twice  as  numerous,  but 
pushing  forward  irregularly,  and  eyed  with  hardly  disguised 
hostility  by  their  hereditary  enemies.  One  fancies  that,  since 
Cortes  must  be  so  bold,  he  might  better  have  been  yet  a  little 
bolder,  and  have  left  these  native  allies  of  his  behind.  When 
the  crisis  came,  their  help  could  not  be  decisive ;  and  mean- 
while, their  presence  could  but  inflame  the  feeling  against 
both  them  and  the  Spaniards,  and  support  the  suspicion  that 
gods  who  accepted  mortal  allies  might  not  be  such  redoubt- 
able gods  after  all.  Certainly,  the  Tlascalans  could  have 
been  more  easily  spared  than  Malina,  whose  knowledge, 
penetration  and  faithfulness  were  of  a  value  which  it  would 
be  difficult  to  overestimate. 


THE   AGE   OF   CORTES  145 

One  of  the  large  council-houses  or  Tecpans  had  been 
assigned  as  the  lodging  place  of  the  visitors ;  there  was 
ample  room  in  it  for  not  the  Spaniards  only,  but  for  the 
Tlascalans  likewise.  It  was  defensible  of  course;  but  it 
would  be  just  as  difficult  to  break  out  of  it,  should  the 
Mexicans  close  it  in,  as  to  break  into  it,  if  the  Spaniards 
stood  a  siege.  There  was,  in  short,  no  such  thing  as  safety 
to  be  looked  for,  save  in  the  courage  and  resources  of  the 
invaders  themselves.  Sixty  thousand  savage  hearts  were 
longing  for  the  destruction  of  the  white  men,  and  as  many 
insatiable  stomachs  were  yearning  to  entomb  them.  What- 
ever Cortes  did  must  be  done  without  delay,  while  the  coun- 
sels of  the  enemy  were  still  unsettled. 

The  experience  gained  on  the  journey  to  Mexico  here  stood 
the  captain  in  good  stead ;  and  the  information  imparted  by 
Malina  supplemented  it.  There  was  only  one  way  to  disarm, 
for  a  time  at  least,  overt  hostilities ;  and  that  was  to  effect 
the  capture  of  the  chief -of -men.  For  it  was  by  the  latter 
alone  that  the  taking  of  the  auspices  before  fighting  could 
be  performed ;  and  without  taking  these  auspices  no  Mexi- 
can would  venture  to  begin  a  battle,  inasmuch  as  the  gods 
would  be  thereby  set  against  them  from  the  start.  Monte- 
zuma,  as  chief-of-men,  was  Lord  Priest  of  Huitzilopochtli, 
and  in  the  dance  of  ceremony  he  was  clad  in  the  garment 
made  of  human  skin  sacred  to  that  office.  He  was  also  the 
living  representative  of  the  same  deity,  and  as  such  wore 
blue  garments  and  a  necklace  and  crown  of  turquoises. 
Upon  his  forehead  was  a  gold  clasp  shaped  like  the  beak 
of  a  humming-bird,  which  identified  him  with  the  war-god 
himself,  and  which  none  other  could  wear  without  sacrilege. 
If,  therefore,  Cortes  could  secure  his  person,  he  would  have 
the  whip-hand  over  all  true  Aztec  believers,  so  long  as  Mou- 
tezuma  remained  alive.  It  was  a  desperate  expedient,  but 
there  was  no  alternative ;  and  before  the  Spaniards  had  been 
a  week  in  the  city,  an  incident  occurred  which  precipitated 
the  stroke.  The  small  Spanish  garrison  left  at  Vera  Cruz 
on  the4  coast  had  got  into  a  fight  with  some  of  Montezuma's 


146  HISTORY   OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

tax-gatherers,  and  though  the  latter  had  been  defeated,  sev- 
eral of  the  alleged  divine  white  men  had  been  killed — which 
of  course  pricked  the  bubble  of  their  invulnerability  on  the 
spot.  Upon  learning  of  this  mishap,  the  pious  leader  sum- 
moned his  officers  to  prayer,  and  the  next  day,  with  Malina 
and  Alvarado  (one  of  his  captains,  with  the  red  hair  and 
herculean  figure  of  a  Scandinavian  Berserker),  he  went 
forth  and  made  a  call  upon  the  chief -of -men.  The  subject 
brought  up  for  discussion  was  the  affair  at  Vera  Cruz, 
which,  Cortes  intimated,  had  been  described  to  him  as  due 
to  the  secret  influence  or  orders  of  Montezuma.  Montezuma 
denied  the  imputation,  and  sent  a  messenger  after  the  delin- 
quent. Cortes  assured  him  that  he  did  not  doubt  his  word, 
but  suggested  that,  while  the  matter  was  being  adjusted,  it 
would  gratify  him  to  have  Montezuma  take  up  his  quarters 
at  the  Spanish  lodgings  as  a  formal  guarantee  of  good  faith ; 
the  councils  could  meet  there,  and  the  despatch  of  routine 
public  business  need  be  in  no  respect  interrupted.  Monte- 
zuma had  no  liking  at  all  for  the  scheme,  but  he  was  unable 
to  find  sound  arguments  with  which  to  combat  it ;  and  he 
felt  the  hand  of  steel  within  the  Spaniard's  velvet  glove. 
There  was  a  fatal  weakness  in  the  Aztec's  character  which 
made  him  no  match  for  one  of  the  strongest  and  most  subtle 
minds  of  that  age.  He  finally  accepted  the  unwelcome  but 
always  courteous  invitation,  and  was  domiciled  in  the  Span- 
ish headquarters,  where  he  was  treated  "with  the  most  dis- 
tinguished consideration, ' '  and  was  allowed  to  hold  as  many 
councils  as  he  pleased,  and  even  to  attend  ceremonies  in  the 
temple  once  hi  a  while,  though  never  without  a  strong  guard 
of  heavily  armed  Spaniards.  It  was  not  easy  for  any  one  to 
pick  technical  flaws  in  this  procedure,  though  it  was  plain 
enough  that  Cortes  had  made  himself  the  real  ruler  of  Te- 
nochtitlan,  with  Montezuma  as  his  helpless  tool.  When  the 
offending  chief  of  tax-gatherers  arrived  from  Vera  Cruz,  it 
was  by  Cortes  that  he  was  tried  and  condemned,  the  sen- 
tence being  that  he  be  burned  alive  in  the  public  square; 
and  upon  the  pyre,  at  Cortes's  order,  were  heaped  up  a  vast 


THE    AGE    OF   CORTES  147 

quantity  of  darts  and  arrows  collected  from  the  Aztec  ar- 
senal, which  were  thus  burned  up  out  of  harm's  way  along 
with  the  ill-starred  official.  This  incident  shows  to  what  an 
extent  the  Aztecs  were  hypnotized  by  the  tactics  of  Cortes, 
and  the  want  of  some  one  with  authority  to  tell  them  what 
to  do.  The  institutions  of  barbarians  are  not  flexible,  and 
they  die  of  strangulation  by  red-tape  even  more  unresistingly 
than  do  we  heirs  of  modern  civilization. 

But  Montezuma  had  a  brother,  Cuitlahuatzin  by  name, 
who  allied  himself  with  the  tribal  chiefs  of  Tezcuco  and 
Tlacopan  to  release  him  from  his  Spanish  captors.  It  was 
a  crude  conspiracy,  useful  only  to  the  romancers  of  a  long 
subsequent  age  as  material  for  dramatic  intrigue.  Cortes 
had  foreseen  attempts  of  that  kind,  and  was  forewarned  by 
Malina  of  its  progress,  so  that  he  was  ready  to  scotch  it 
when  the  time  came.  He  took  his  measures  so  well  that 
he  presently  had  the  three  conspiring  chiefs  in  his  power, 
and  added  them  to  his  collection  in  the  chambers  of  the 
tecpan.  By  thus  imprisoning  the  successor  of  Montezuma 
he  greatly  strengthened  his  control  over  the  situation ;  and 
his  next  step  was  to  do  away  with  the  images  of  the  gods 
in  the  temples  and  on  the  pyramids.  After  denuding  one  of 
the  latter  of  its  sacred  accessories,  he  had  its  altar  washed 
clean  of  the  accumulated  blood  of  years,  sprinkled  it  with 
holy  water,  and  erected  upon  it  a  crucifix  and  a  statue  of 
the  Virgin  Mary ;  then  causing  the  populace  to  assemble  in 
the  square,  he  had  mass  performed  in  their  presence,  which 
they  doubtless  supposed  to  be  a  new  rite  in  the  worship  of 
Quetzalcoatl.  Contrary  to  all  reasonable  expectation,  at  all 
events,  they  did  not  explode  in  wrathful  rebellion  at  all  this 
audacious  impudence,  but  let  it  go  on  in  a  sullen  mood  of 
toleration  all  that  winter.  In  April,  however,  danger  came 
from  the  quarter  where  it  had  least  been  looked  for,  and  once 
again  the  generalship  and  presence  of  mind  of  Cortes  was  put 
to  a  test  which  few  besides  himself  could  have  survived. 

It  appears  that  Velasquez,  governor  of  Cuba,  had  not 
remained  quiescent  under  the  tacit  defiance  of  his  commands 


148  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

by  Cortes,  but  had  spent  his  time  in  providing  means  to  re- 
duce him  to  obedience,  and  to  inflict  upon  him  a  suitable 
Spanish  punishment.  He  had  raised  an  army  of  twelve 
hundred  men,  and  had  embarked  them  on  eighteen  ships, 
the  entire  expedition  being  intrusted  to  the  leadership  of 
Pamfilo  de  Narvaez ;  whose  orders  were  to  pursue  the  too 
independent  captain,  arrest  him,  and  produce  him,  body 
and  bones,  before  the  offended  majesty  of  the  governor. 
Narvaez  had  set  sail  accordingly,  and  was  even  now 
ashore  at  San  Juan  de  Ulloa,  ready  to  march  for  Tenoch- 
titlan.  This  news  was  brought  by  the  Aztec  couriers  in 
picture  writing,  and  was  made  known  to  Cortes  as  promptly 
as  to  Montezuma. 

What  was  to  be  done?  It  was  all  very  well  to  bamboozle 
superstitious  natives  armed  only  with  bows  and  arrows  and 
protected  by  cotton  doublets;  but  an  army  of  twelve  hun- 
dred Spanish  soldiers  was  not  to  be  subdued  by  a  third  as 
many  men  of  their  own  kith  and  kin.  What  another  man 
might  have  done  we  may  easily  surmise;  but  Cortes  was  in 
a  class  by  himself.  He  made  up  his  mind,  on  the  spot,  to 
turn  one  of  the  greatest  calamities  that  could  have  happened 
to  him  into  a  means  of  securing  his  position.  He  would 
prove  once  more  that  he  understood  human  nature  better 
than  did  Velasquez,  or  most  other  people  before  the  era  of 
Shakespeare.  This  was  the  time  that  either  was  to  make 
him,  or  undo  him  quite. 

Without  losing  a  moment,  he  called  his  Berserker  Alva- 
rado,  and  appointed  him  deputy-ruler  of  Tenochtitlan  in  his 
place.  He  left  with  him  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  his  Span- 
ish soldiers,  and  the  Tlascalans;  with  the  remaining  three 
hundred  he  set  out  by  forced  marches  for  the  coast.  Nar- 
vaez, who  seems  to  have  observed  the  Spanish  policy  of 
"manana,"  was  looking  for  anything  rather  than  Cortes; 
and  was  amusing  himself  in  innocent  security  with  reviews 
and  preparations  for  the  easy  campaign  which  he  imagined 
lay  before  him.  Upon  him  thus  agreeably  preoccupied  came 
down  Cortes  like  a  thunderbolt  from  blue  sky,  attacked  and 


THE    AGE    OF    CORTES  149 

captured  him  without  a  word  of  warning  or  the  least  pre- 
tence of  ceremony ;  and  having  got  the  leader  himself  safely 
in  his  pocket,  proceeded  to  exercise  his  powers  of  persuasion 
upon  his  army.  He  called  them  together,  and  unfolded  a 
picture  of  the  delights  of  Tenochtitlan  and  the  boundless 
fortunes  to  be  made  there  by  all  honest  and  self-respecting 
Spaniards,  in  such  colors  as  proved  not  only  seductive  but 
irresistible.  His  own  men,  mingling  with  their  brethren, 
supported  his  every  assertion,  and  as  earnest  of  the  truth 
of  the  tale  displayed  the  glittering  trinkets  which  they  had 
gathered  during  their  sojourn.  Flesh  and  blood  could  not 
withstand  it;  and  without  so  much  as  a  kick  or  a  blush,  the 
whole  twelve  hundred  accepted  the  situation,  chose  Cortes 
as  the  general,  and  were  ready  to  be  led  by  him  to  gold  and 
glory.  The  priests  who  had  accompanied  the  expedition  were 
captivated  by  the  vast  and  inviting  field  for  missionary  labor 
which  was  disclosed  to  them  by  the  great  soldier,  and  cast 
in  their  lot  with  the  rest.  Cortes  had  triumphed;  and,  in 
the  very  midnight  of  blackest  disaster,  had  caused  to  arise 
the  noonday  sun  of  prosperity.  He  did  not  give  his  new 
converts  time  to  reconsider  their  determination,  but  started 
at  once  on  his  return  march,  at  the  head  of  fifteen  hundred 
men.  To  be  great  is  always  money  in  a  man's  pocket,  as 
the  phrase  runs. 

But  the  greatest  men  are  after  all  but  human  and  finite; 
and  one  of  the  things  they  cannot  do  is  to  make  their  lieuten- 
ants as  great  as  themselves.  Cortes's  lieutenant  Alvarado  was 
brave  enough,  but  lacked  the  saving  prudence  and  self-com- 
mand of  a  Ulysses — which,  in  the  circumstances,  was  quite 
as  desirable  as  the  audacity  of  Achilles.  After  Cortes  had 
taken  his  departure,  rumors  came  to  Alvarado's  ears  that 
certain  chiefs  were  stirring  up  rebellion  against  his  rule;  his 
nerves  were  not  steady  enough  to  sit  still  and  wait  for  the 
alleged  plot  to  mature,  and  he  made  up  his  mind  to  quell  it 
by  taking  the  initiative  himself.  As  it  happened,  the  natu- 
ral progress  of  affairs  afforded  him  what  he  deemed  to  be  an. 
admirable  opportunity  to  carry  out  his  plan. 


150  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

There  was  a  certain  great  Aztec  religious  festival  each 
year,  in  celebrating  which  they  laid  aside  all  preparations 
for  war,  and  other  business,  and  gave  themselves  wholly  up 
to  the  service  of  the  gods.  This  was  the  May  festival,  in 
honor  of  the  annual  return  of  green  grass  and  tinted  flow- 
ers ;  and  the  god  Tezcatlipoca  was  the  central  figure-  of  the 
ceremonies.  Twenty  days  before  the  culminating  event,  a 
young  man  was  selected  from  among  the  inhabitants  of  the 
pueblo,  distinguished  above  others  for  his  manly  beauty  and 
prowess ;  and  to  him  were  assigned  four  lovely  girls  as  brides. 
During  twenty  days  this  youth  was  kept  in  apartments  fitted 
up  with  every  luxury  that  Aztec  resources  could  provide,  and 
was  made  the  object  of  divine  honors;  for  he  was  indeed  re- 
garded as  the  physical  incarnation  of  the  god.  Every  sense 
was  flattered,  every  desire  gratified — unless,  to  be  sure,  he 
should  happen  to  desire  freedom  to  go  about  his  business; 
but  it  is  improbable  that  in  that  age  and  environment  any 
petty  frailty  of  that  kind  would  invade  the  religious  exalta- 
tion which  must  be  assumed  to  have  possessed  him.  It  is 
comparatively  easy  to  submit  even  to  have  one's  breast  cut 
open,  and  the  heart  snatched  thence,  if  such  has  been  the 
custom  of  the  time  -during  unknown  ages.  We  know  that 
people  did  not  seem  to  mind  being  burned  at  the  stake  in 
early  Christian  days,  or  suffering  the  torments  of  the  In- 
quisition at  the  hands  of  Spain ;  they  smiled  and  sometimes 
jested  with  their  executioners;  and  no  better  reason  for  this 
ghastly  indifference  is  conceivable  than  that  they  were  vica- 
riously used  to  it.  What  so  many  others  had  undergone  and 
were  undergoing,  they  too  could  undergo. 

On  the  one  and  twentieth  day  the  crowning  ceremony  took 
place.  Now  must  the  divine  youth  leave  his  flowery  apart- 
ments, his  dainty  banquets  and  the  tender  embraces  of  his 
brides,  and  walk  in  solemn  procession  to  the  sacrificial  altar, 
stepping  on  fragrant  flowers,  surrounded  and  followed  by 
many  youths  and  maidens,  chanting  his  praises,  and  paying 
him  divine  homage.  Onward  must  he  fare,  amid  the  white- 
clad  throng,  welcomed  with  the  plaudits  and  reverence  of 


THE    AGE    OF    CORTES  151 

the  great  populace,  to  where,  at  the  end  of  the  journey,  the 
wolfish  priests  waited  for  him  at  the  summit  of  the  pyramid. 
Arrived  there,  he  looked  his  last  upon  the  clear  blue  heavens 
and  the  white  city  and  the  green  earth  and  rippling  waters; 
he  heard  for  the  last  time  the  murmuring  voices  of  the  spec- 
tators massed  on  all  sides  around  him,  filling  the  court,  the 
streets,  the  roofs ;  he  felt  against  his  shoulders  the  pressure 
of  the  jasper  stone;  he  felt  the  priest  snatch  away  the  vest- 
ment from  his  hosom,  and  saw,  with  swimming  eyes,  the 
knife  rushing  downward  at  his  life.  All  was  then  over  for 
him;  but  his  body  was  severed  into  scores  of  fragments, 
which  the  leading  chiefs  came  forward  to  claim,  and  which 
they  duly  and  piously  devoured  for  supper.  — It  was  this  day 
which  Alvarado  selected  as  the  fitting  juncture  for  his  attack. 

Alvarado  took  the  view  of  the  ordinary  soldier  or  fighter, 
who,  when  he  sees,  or  thinks  he  sees,  his  adversary  aiming 
a  blow  at  him,  tries  to  neutralize  it  by  knocking  his  man 
down  first.  Alvarado  also  had  acquired  the  notion  that  the 
Aztecs  were  incorrigible  cowards ;  basing  this  opinion,  plaus- 
ibly enough,  on  the  fact  that,  hitherto,  they  had  put  up  with 
conduct  on  the  part  of  the  Spaniards  which  no  self-respecting 
European  would  endure  for  a  moment.  He  did  not  have 
penetration  enough  to  see,  as  Cortes  probably  did,  that  they 
feared  not  man  but  the  gods ;  that  it  was  religious  scruples, 
not  dread  of  death  in  battle,  that  had  kept  them  quiet  so  far. 
Accordingly  he  believed  that  if  he  fell  upon  them  unawares 
and  cut  a  few  hundred  of  them  to  pieces,  they  would  become 
quieter  than  ever. 

Watching  his  opportunity,  then,  he  sallied  out  of  the. 
tecpan  with  a  squad  of  his  men,  and  began  slashing  and 
shooting  at  the  passing  procession  with  much  fury,  and  with 
such  good  effect  that  some  six  hundred  of  the  unarmed  fes- 
tival-makers, including  many  of  the  chiefs,  were  then  and 
there  murdered;  possibly  the  divine  youth  escaped  in  the 
confusion,  but  as  to  that  the  testimony  is  not  conclusive. 
Before  the  Aztecs  had  got  their  wits  together,  their  assail- 
ants were  back  in  their  fortress;  but  instead  of  enduring  the 


152 

outrage  quietly,  the  infuriated  Mexicans  swarmed  around 
the  massive  walls,  and  began  a  determined  effort  to  tear 
them  down  or  undermine  them.  Alvarado  realized  his  error; 
if  those  walls  fell,  the  fate  of  himself  and  his  companions 
was  certain;  every  mother's  son  of  them  would  be  stewing 
in  the  kettle  before  night.  In  this  emergency  it  occurred 
to  him  to  use  his  captive  as  a  safeguard ;  and  by  dint  of  dire 
threats  he  prevailed  upon  Montezuma  to  mount  the  battle- 
ment, and  plead  with  the  people  to  desist.  The  unfortunate 
chief  must  have  been  thoroughly  cowed ;  but  his  appeal  was 
successful  for  the  time  being,  and  the  besiegers  sullenly 
retired;  but  they  relieved  their  feelings  in  some  degree  by 
setting  fire  to  the  brigantines  which  the  Spaniards  had  been 
constructing  during  the  winter,  designing  them  as  a  means 
of  escaping  from  the  city,  should  the  worst  come  to  the 
worst,  otherwise  than  by  the  causeways.  The  Spaniards 
were  only  saved  from  dying  by  hunger  and  thirst  by  the 
extraordinary  good  luck  of  finding  a  spring  of  fresh  water 
inside  the  tecpan,  and  by  the  foresight  of  Cortes,  who  had 
caused  corn  enough  to  be  stored  away  to  last  them  some 
months.  But  even  so,  the  predicament  was  irksome  enough ; 
and  for  aught  Alvarado  could  tell,  Cortes  might  have  been 
worsted  by  Narvaez,  and  the  latter  be  on  his  way  to  inflict 
condign  penalties  upon  himself  likewise. 

But  Cortes  was  on  the  high  wave  of  prosperity;  and  by 
the  last  week  in  June  he  came  in  sight  of  the  great  pueblo. 
It  did  not  take  him  long  to  see  that  all  was  not  well ;  there 
was  no  polite  deputation  at  the  entrance  of  the  causeway 
to  greet  him;  everything  was  grim,  silent  and  deserted;  the 
drawbridges  were  up,  the  streets  empty,  and  the  few  people 
who  showed  themselves  wore  a  very  sour  and  menacing 
expression.  It  was  not  until  he  arrived  at  the  tecpan  that 
Cortes  ceased  to  fear  the  worst,  and  met  with  a  greeting, 
the  genuine  delight  of  which  was  obviously  not  assumed. 
Alvarado  told  his  tale,  and  was  soundly  rated  by  Cortes  for 
his  suicidal  folly;  all  the  diplomacy  of  the  latter  was  thrown 
away ;  there  was  nothing  for  it  now  but  to  prepare  for  blows. 


THE    AGE    OF    CORTES  153 

But,  as  a  last  expedient  to  avert  the  trouble,  Cortes  took  a 
step  which  was  if  possible  even  more  foolish  than  Alvarado's 
massacre.  It  seems  hardly  credible  that,  with  Malina  and 
the  Tlascalans  to  advise  him,  he  should  not  have  known 
that  it  would  be  throwing  away  his  trump  card  to  let  Mon- 
tezuma's  brother  and  legal  successor,  Cuitlahuatzin,  get  out 
of  his  grasp ;  nevertheless,  this  is  what  he  did.  It  was  true 
that  while  a  chief-of-men  remained  alive  it  was  not  custom- 
ary for  him  to  be  deposed  and  his  successor  elected;  yet,  in 
great  emergencies,  this  act  was  within  the  powers  of  the 
tribal  council;  and  the  only  reason  they  had  not  exercised 
this  power  after  Alvarado's  escapade  was  because  Cuitlahuat- 
zin was  a  prisoner  with  Montezuma.  But  now  Cortes,  realiz- 
ing that  his  twelve  hundred  new  men  were  making  terrible 
inroads  upon  his  provisions,  bade  Cuitlahuatzin  go  forth  and 
command  the  people  to  reopen  the  markets  (which  had  been 
closed),  in  order  that  the  supplies  of  the  Spanish  might  be 
replenished.  Inwardly  rejoicing  at  this  good  fortune,  the 
young  man  betook  himself  to  the  chiefs,  convened  the  tribal 
council,  stated  the  case  to  them,  and  was  by  them  imme- 
diately elected  to  be  chief-of-men,  Montezuma  being  deposed. 
Now  the  long  repressed  fury  of  revenge  burst  forth  among 
the  Mexicans  in  a  terrible  storm.  The  night  passed  with 
ominous  forebodings;  with  dawn  the  Spaniards  saw  the 
whole  city  changed  into  a  camp  of  raging  warriors.  With 
mingled  outcries  that  roared  like  an  angry  sea,  they  filled 
the  streets,  the  roofs,  the  pyramids,  and  every  coign  of  van- 
tage whence  an  arrow  could  fly,  or  a  spear  be  hurled,  or  a 
stone  slung.  The  bombardment  from  the  summit  of  the 
high  pyramid  was  especially  galling;  and  arrows  carrying 
fire  were  shot  in  through  the  loopholes,  and  set  the  interior 
woodwork  in  a  blaze.  Cortes  replied  with  his  cannon,  and 
scores  fell  in  the  thronged  streets  at  each  discharge;  but 
the  frenzied  Indians  were  not  dismayed,  but  charged  more 
fiercely  than  ever;  and  the  number  of  killed  and  wounded 
Spaniards  began  to  be  greater  than  could  by  any  means  be 
afforded.  Finally  poor  Montezuma  was  again  sent  up  on 


154  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

the  roof  to  make  another  attempt  at  pacification;  but  his 
hour  of  influence  was  gone.     His  appearance  was  greeted 
with  yells  of  reproach  and  menace;  his  words  fell  on  deaf 
ears;  his  sanctity  and  authority  were  no  more.     On  the  con- 
trary he  was  made  the  target  of  the  Aztec  marksmen ;  and 
while  he  stood  there  before  them,  too  miserable  to  care  to 
escape,  a  heavy  stone  struck  him  ill  the  forehead,  and  he  fell. 
The  Spaniards  took  him  under  shelter;  but  he  had  received 
his  death- wound,  though  no  doubt  anguish  of  mind  hastened 
the  end.     Seeing  this  last  means  of  pacification  had  failed, 
Cortes  became  the  savage  soldier,  and  ordered  a  sortie  to 
capture  the  great  temple,  where  the  chief  idols  were,  and 
from  which  the  most  dangerous  attacks  had  been  delivered. 
Collecting  a  band  of  men  ready  to  dare  all  hazards,  he  burst 
forth  with  them  upon  the  howling  street,  and  hewed  his  way 
through  solid  walls  of  struggling  human  bodies  to  his  goal. 
The  fighting  of  that  day  could  be  described  only  by  a  Homer; 
the  air  was  full  of  missiles,  many  of  which  found  their  way 
through  the  joints  of  the  Spanish  armor,  and  their  wearers 
fell,  to  be  trampled  by  their  own  desperate  comrades,  or  to 
be  shredded  to  pieces  by  the  frantic  barbarians.    And  all  the 
while  the  sword  arms  rose  and  fell,  and  blood  spurted  and 
gushed  upon  the  cemented  pavements,  and  heads  and  limbs 
were  sheared  away,  and  through  many  a  furious  heart  the 
thirsty  Toledo  blade  rushed  to  the  hilt.  Cuitlahuatzin  cheered 
on  his  warriors  by  words  and  example,  and  they  flung  them- 
selves against  those  rigid  ranks  of  steel  with  terrible  despe- 
ration.    But  Cortes  would  not  be  defeated;   all  the  tiger  in 
him  was  aroused  and  he  fought  with  a  cool  and  deadly  feroc- 
ity which  nothing  could  withstand.     Slowly  but  irresistibly 
the  Spanish  line  was  advanced,  plunging  through  parapets 
of  writhing  carnage;    beat  upon  from  all  sides,  but  uncon- 
querable.    At  last  the  temple  was  reached,  and  up  the  sides 
of  the  great  pyramid  swarmed  the  soldiers,  drenched  with 
blood,    while   the   Aztecs,    not   venturing   to   follow   them, 
swarmed  beneath.     A  few  priests,  perhaps,  dared  to  remain 
to  die  upon  their  sacred  domain ;  but  their  shrift  was  short. 


Death  to  the  pagans  and  annihilation  to  their  gods!  And 
down  came  the  grinning  idols  from  their  lofty  perches,  crash- 
ing down,  shattered,  among  their  worshippers,  dashing  out 
once  more  the  human  life  which  had  so  often  been  offered 
up  hi  their  honor.  And  fire  was  set  to  the  blood-stained 
shrines,  and  all  trace  of  the  hideous  worship  of  the  Aztec 
gods  was  burned  away.  It  was  a  deed  of  wild  reckless- 
ness, yet  it  was  a  deed  of  policy  too;  for  the  Aztecs  were 
appalled  by  the  monstrous  sacrilege,  and  stood  aloof,  while 
the  men  or  demons  who  had  perpetrated  it  came  down  from 
their  work  and  began  the  retreat  to  their  stronghold.  Surely 
the  outraged  gods  themselves  would  avenge  the  act !  But 
the  gods  lay  broken  where  they  were  hurled,  and  no  light- 
ning from  heaven  or  earthquake  from  below  came  to  blast 
or  devour  their  desecrators.  Back  along  the  gory  road  which 
they  had  come  went  the  Spaniards,  weary  but  more  than 
ever  formidable ;  and  the  huge  walls  of  the  tecpan  received 
them.  The  day  was  done. 

The  next  day  Montezuma  breathed  his  last,  and  Cortes 
saw  that  nothing  was  left  for  him  but  to  evacuate  the  city. 
Were  he  to  remain,  it  could  only  be  a  question  of  time  when 
he  woull  be  destroyed;  his  men  would  be  picked  off  one  by 
one;  his  provisions  would  fail,  his  ammunition  be  exhausted; 
and  when  defence  was  no  longer  possible,  the  survivors  would 
be  dragged  to  the  sacrificial  block.  It  was  the  first  day  of 
July  wnen  he  gave  the  order  to  march,  and  out  upon  the 
deserted  street  filed  in  serried  ranks  the  grim  invaders.  They 
had  expected  to  be  attacked  at  once ;  but  their  approach  to 
the  causeway  was  almost  unopposed.  Cuitlahuatzin,  how- 
ever, was  far  from  intending  to  let  his  hated  enemies  escape. 
He  fully  understood  the  advantage  which  the  retreat  of  the 
Spaniards  along  the  five  miles  of  narrow  causeway  would 
give  him;  and  he  improved  it  to  the  utmost.  No  sooner  had 
the  first  drawbridge  been  passed  than  the  attack  began.  The 
whole  male  population  of  the  confederacy  flung  themselves 
upon  the  foe.  All  retreat  was  shut  off;  and  it  was  impos- 
sible for  the  Spaniards  to  mass  themselves  for  resistance 


156  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

upon  the  causeway.  On  both  sides  of  them  swarmed  canoes 
filled  with  warriors;  from  behind  and  in  front  the  headlong 
charges  were  delivered;  every  moment  a  Spaniard  fell;  and 
though  the  slaughter  they  inflicted  was  greater  than  on  the 
day  of  the  sortie,  the  effect  upon  the  Aztecs  was  impercep- 
tible. The  long  causeway  was  divided  by  three  drawbridges, 
all  of  which  had  been  removed.  Cortes  had  provided  pon- 
toons, but  in  attempting  to  use  them  they  were  all  but  anni- 
hilated. Night  fell  while  the  battle  was  still  in  its  early 
stages.  It  would  be  hard  to  conceive  of  a  conflict  waged 
under  conditions  more  terrific.  The  Aztecs,  swarming  up 
the  wall  on  both  sides,  hurled  the  Spaniards  over,  or  dragged 
them  down  into  the  water,  careless  of  their  own  lives,  if  only 
they  might  taste  the  delight  of  knowing  that  the  men  they 
hated  must  die.  Scores  of  maddened  savages  flung  them- 
selves upon  each  man ;  the  useless  cannon  were  sunk  in  the 
lake,  and  awful  struggles  took  place  at  every  step  in  the 
bloody  waters.  Hour  after  hour  of  hellish  conflict  went  by, 
every  moment  of  which  seemed  an  age,  and  in  the  brooding 
darkness  none  might  know  how  many  still  lived  to  fight. 
What  noises  struck  the  ear  in  that  bloody  gloom:  what  dim 
masses  of  intertwined  humanity  went  down  to  death  upon 
the  slippery  stones,  or  sank  bubbling  and  strangling  beneath 
the  waters !  Hour  after  hour  of  night,  of  struggle,  of  agony, 
of  uncertainty,  of  despair  and  of  death,  and  still  the  dark 
and  savage  horde  raged  round  the  long-drawn  line.  Never, 
perhaps,  in  the  history  of  mankind,  has  there  been  known 
a  more  hideous  battle  than  that  which  lasted  through  the 
endless  noche  triste  of  that  1st  of  July,  1520. 

But  even  that  night  passed,  and  the  sun  rose  in  the  cloud- 
less east,  and  the  birds  of  bright  plumage  fluttered  among 
the  trees  as  the  remnant  of  the  Spanish  army  reached  the 
end  of  the  causeway,  and  set  foot  at  last  on  solid  earth.  A 
remnant  only.  Of  the  fifteen  hundred  men-at-arms  who, 
first  and  last,  had  landed  at  Vera  Cruz  with  such  high 
hopes,  a  bare  five  hundred  saw  the  sun  arise  that  morning; 
and  of  these,  forty  had  been  captured  by  the  enemy,  and 


THE    AGE    OF    CORTES  157 

were  already  on  their  way  to  the  most  revolting  of  imagi- 
nable fates.  Of  the  six  thousand  Tlascalans,  but  two  thou- 
sand survived ;  .forty  horses  lived  of  eighty ;  and  all  the  can- 
non were  at  the  bottom  of  the  lake.  But  Cortes  lived ;  and 
though,  beholding  the  ruin  wrought  upon  his  followers,  his 
iron  soul  was  melted  within  him,  and  he  shed  bitter  tears, 
sitting  on  a  rock  beside  the  bloody  lake,  yet  his  spirit  and 
resolve  were  undismayed.  More  than  ever  was  he  deter- 
mined to  conquer  these  desperate  barbarians,  and  give  their 
land  to  Spain,  though  every  foot  of  it  should  be  wet  with 
blood. 

But  it  is  not  necessary  to  follow  him  through  every  sub- 
sequent step  of  his  terrible  campaign.  After  a  few  days  he 
was  forced  to  sustain  the  attack  of  the  combined  tribes  of 
the  region,  which  hoped  to  overwhelm  his  depleted  army 
while  it  was  still  staggering  from  the  effects  of  the  night 
upon  the  causeway;  but  Cortes  grimly  arose,  and  inflicted 
upon  them  so  fearful  a  defeat  that  even  their  wild  courage 
was  appalled.  Nor  did  this  success  come  a  day  too  soon; 
for  the  Tlascalans  had  been  wavering  in  their  fealty,  and 
were  all  but  ready  to  unite  themselves  with  the  Confederacy. 
But  when  the  news  of  this  battle  reached  them,  they  decided 
that  such  a  man  as  Cortes,  mortal  or  divine,  was  not  a  man 
to  abandon ;  better  be  with  him  against  the  world,  than  with 
the  world  against  him.  Tlascalan  patriots  there  were  who 
warned  their  comrades  that  slavery  to  the  Spanish  must  be 
their  final  fate,  unless  they  improved  this  opportunity  to  aid 
in  the  destruction  of  the  invaders;  fear  of  him,  and  heredi- 
tary hatred  of  the  Confederacy,  overpowered  such  argu- 
ments. So,  once  more,  in  the  moment  of  deadliest  peril, 
Cortes  was  saved.  He  spent  the  autumn  in  making  good 
his  foothold  in  the  country,  crushing  such  pueblos  as  opposed 
him,  and  allying  himself  with  those  which  were  willing  to 
join  him  in  the  overthrow  of  Tenochtitlan.  Meanwhile  he 
sent  the  ships  of  Narvaez  back  to  Hispaniola  for  more  men 
and  horses ;  and  on  the  eve  of  Christmas  he  found  himself 
at  the  head  of  a  new  army  of  more  than  nine  hundred  men, 


158  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

with  twelve  cannon,   ample  cavalry,   and  many  thousand 
native  allies. 

His  first  move  was  against  Tezcuco;  for  until  this  pueblo 
was  subdued,  the  enemy  would  have  control  of  the  lake. 
But  Tezcuco  fell  into  his  arms  without  a  struggle ;  its  chiefs 
had  quarrelled  with  Tenochtitlan,  and  welcomed  the  enemy 
of  the  latter  as  friends  of  their  own.  The  Confederacy  being 
thus  broken,  the  campaign  became  comparatively  simple. 
Cortes  built  a  new  fleet  of  brigantines,  which  was  supple- 
mented by  innumerable  native  canoes;  and  succeeded  in 
shutting  off  the  water  supply  of  Tenochtitlan  by  cutting 
the  aqueduct  from  Chapultepec.  In  the  spring,  the  siege 
began  in  earnest;  and  the  unfortunate  Aztecs  were  handi- 
capped near  the  start  by  the  death  by  smallpox  of  their 
chief-of-men  Cuitlahuatzin.  The  latter,  however,  had  a 
nephew,  Guatemotzin,  who  was  a  man  of  mettle,  and  left 
a  high  reputation  as  a  warrior  behind  him.  He  was  chosen 
to  fill  Cuitlahuatzin's  place.  But  the  fate  of  the  great  pueblo 
was  fixed  from  the  beginning.  The  Spaniards  and  their  allies 
gradually  fastened  their  grasp  upon  one  after  another  of  the 
causeways,  and  approached  closer  and  closer  to  their  antag- 
onists. The  latter  fought  with  the  courage  of  their  despair, 
but  they  increased  the  already  hopeless  odds  against  them- 
selves by  their  attempts  (occasionally  successful)  to  capture 
Spaniards  alive;  when  this  occurred,  Cortes  and  his  men 
were  able  to  see  the  victims  carried  up  the  steps  of  the 
pyramid  and  sacrificed  thereon,  while  the  barbaric  music 
rolled  triumphantly  across  the  waters  of  the  lake.  The 
Aztecs  made  a  good  fight,  and  it  was  not  until  near  the 
middle  of  August  that  they  ceased  the  struggle;  at  that 
time  the  city  was  in  ruins,  and  filled  with  bodies  of  the 
dead.  Cortes  at  once  proceeded  to  extirpate  the  old  relig- 
ion and  social  customs,  and  in  their  stead  established  Ca- 
tholicism and  the  Spanish  ways  and  laws.  The  present 
cathedral  was  erected  in  1573  on  the  site  of  the  bloodstained 
temple.  Having  made  the  city  his  own,  he  turned  to  the 
conquest  of  the  country  surrounding  it,  far  and  wide;  no 


THE    AGE    OF    CORTES  159 

serious  resistance  was  met  with,  for  the  other  pueblos  could 
contend  with  little  hope  of  success  against  an  enemy  who 
had  already  defeated  the  strongest  and  fiercest  of  them. 
Many  cruel  atrocities  were  perpetrated;  and  it  is  open  to 
question  whether  the  Spanish  regime  was  better  in  any  es- 
sential respect  than  that  which  it  supplanted.  But  Cortes, 
though  stern,  was  less  bloody-minded  and  wantonly  cruel 
than  many  of  his  peers,  contemporary  and  subsequent.  It 
is  not  a  pleasant  thing  to  crush  a  nation ;  and  the  Conquest 
of  Mexico  takes  its  place  with  other  similar  conquests,  neither 
much  worse  nor  much  superior  to  them  in  atrocity  and  injus- 
tice. Our  own  record  of  dealings  with  the  American  abo- 
rigines may  serve  to  soften  the  asperity  of  our  criticisms 
of  the  procedure  of  Spain. 


160  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 


II 

PASSING   UNDER  THE   YOKE 

BY  the  time  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  was 
past,  Spain  had  fixed  her  talons  on  all  of  Central 
and  South  America,  as  well  as  eaten  her  way  far 
to  the  north.  These  vast  and  fertile  regions  were  the  scene, 
during  fifty  or  sixty  years,  of  incredible  barbarities,  ending 
in  the  partial  or  total  extermination  of  whole  races;  from 
which  they  never  recovered.  Spain  and  death  ruled  them 
jointly.  And  for  more  than  two  centuries  and  a  half  this 
joint  reign  continued,  and  no  progress  was  made  in  civiliza- 
tion ;  so  that  at  the  beginning  of  this  era  the  entire  extent  of 
Spanish  America  was  practically  in  the  same  condition  as 
in  1560.  But  in  the  meantime,  a  breed  had  come  into  exist- 
ence, consisting  partly  of  Spaniards  born  in  America,  who, 
though  often  rich  and  sometimes  intelligent,  had  always  been 
treated  as  inferiors  by  the  Spaniards  born  in  Spain  who  were 
sent  out  to  rule  them;  and  partly  of  a  mixture  of  Spanish 
with  Indian  blood,  who  inherited  the  bad  qualities  of  both 
sides  of  their  ancestry.  The  remnants  of  the  pure  Indian 
races  which  had  survived  lived  side  by  side  with  these,  but 
of  course  had  no  voice  in  the  affairs  of  the  countries  which 
had  been  theirs.  But  finally,  about  1810,  when  the  over- 
throw by  Napoleon  of  the  Spanish  dynasty  had  also  deprived 
her  colonies  of  their  so-called  legitimate  ruler,  the  colonies 
attempted  a  revolt;  for  the  foreign-born  sons  of  Spain  had 
long  groaned  under  the  despotism  which  their  own  fore- 
fathers had  inflicted  upon  the  Indians.  After  a  decade  or 
so,  the  strangling  grasp  of  the  old  tyrant,  now  in  her  dotage 
(though  venomous  as  ever  in  purpose  and  principle),  was 
thrown  off;  but,  as  might  have  been  expected,  the  revolu- 
tionists had  no  skill  in  self-government;  and  most  of  the 


PASSING    UNDER    THE    YOKE  161 

states  began  that  series  of  internal  struggles  and  bloody  in- 
surrections which  have  continued  with  few  intermissions  up 
to  the  present  day.  Upon  the  whole,  one  perceives  a  grad- 
ual amelioration.  The  immense  advance  in  social  and  polit- 
ical culture  and  intelligence  of  Europe  and  America  (the 
United  States)  has  not  been  without  its  effect  upon  these 
benighted  and  half -savage  countries;  and  by  bitter  and  san- 
guinary experience  they  are  beginning  to  learn  what  liberty 
really  is.  Whether  they  will  ever  fully  acquire  the  lesson, 
or  whether  it  will  be  necessary  for  the  United  States  to  take 
them  in  charge,  and  administer  them  in  the  interests  of 
decency  and  economy,  are  questions  which  the  near  future 
is  likely  to  answer. 

The  immediate  occasion  of  the  invasion  of  the  Isthmus 
by  Spaniards  was  to  obtain  slaves  to  replace  those  which 
had  been  murdered  in  the  West  Indian  islands.  Slavery, 
as  we  know,  had  existed  in  the  Old  World  from  the  earliest 
historical  times.  There,  tribe  conquered  tribe,  and  nation 
possessed  itself  of  the  domain  of  nation;  and  the  subjected 
people  became  the  unpaid  and  involuntary  servants  of  the 
subjugators.  But  in  this  slavery,  the  slaves  were  often  near 
in  blood  to  the  masters,  or  at  any  rate  were  not  so  different 
from  them  as  are  negroes  from  white  men.  Their  servitude 
was  often  severe,  but  it  was  not  so  unrestrainedly  and  wan- 
tonly inhuman  as  was  the  slavery  instituted  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  or  a  little  earlier,  by  Spain.  Its  tendency,  also,  was 
to  become  progressively  milder;  so  that,  at  the  epoch  of  the 
discovery  of  America,  it  had  almost  died  away  in  its  old  form 
— the  form  in  which  it  was  handed  down  by  the  Romans. 
Between  this  classic  slavery,  as  we  may  call  it,  passing  into 
the  feudal  system,  and  so  into  the  birth  of  the  "common 
people"  of  our  own  day — between  this  and  modern  slavery 
there  are  a  distinction  and  a  difference. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  West  Indies  were  of  several  races; 
but  they  were  alike  in  this,  that  they  made  poor  slaves. 
Some  of  them  were  meek  enough,  others  were  irreclaimably 
fierce;  but  neither  sort  lived  well  in  captivity.  To  endure 


162  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

Spanish  cruelties  and  survive  required  stronger  constitutions 
than  the  native  races  possessed.  At  first,  the  Spaniards  cared 
little  how  fast  they  died,  since  there  seemed  to  be  an  inex- 
haustible supply  to  draw  upon ;  and  it  was  easier  to  get  a 
slave  to  supply  the  place  of  one  who  had  perished,  than  to 
take  care  of  the  health  or  welfare  of  the  latter.  But  in  His- 
paniola  and  in  Cuba  the  natives  died  by  hundreds,  and  it 
was  plain  that  stouter  stock  must  be  got  if  possible,  other- 
wise how  were  the  mines  to  be  worked?  Incursions  to  Terra 
Firma  were  made,  and  natives  were  kidnapped  thence ;  but 
there  was  always  a  fight  to  get  them,  and  often  the  kidnap- 
pers were  met  in  such  force  that  they  were  unable  to  effect 
their  purpose.  Now,  as  has  been  recorded  above,  Prince 
John  of  Portugal,  fifty  years  before,  had  collected  negro 
slaves  on  the  African  coast;  and  these  men,  who  had  been 
slaves  in  their  own  country,  were  a  much  hardier  and  more 
serviceable  race  than  the  West  Indians;  and  were  scarcely 
regarded  as  human  beings  by  their  owners.  It  is  true  that 
Prince  John  had  pleaded  in  his  own  justification  that  he  had 
imported  them  with  a  view  to  saving  their  souls;  but  that 
was  one  of  his  amiable  eccentricities,  not  shared  by  the  ma- 
jority of  his  contemporaries,  though  they  might  take  advan- 
tage of  his  argument  to  clear  their  own  skirts  of  reproach. 
At  all  events,  when  this  difficulty  about  procuring  slaves 
in  Spanish  America  arose,  it  was  recalled  that  the  African 
article  had  shown  many  advantages,  and  the  suggestion 
was  made  that  the  illimitable  resources  of  the  African  con- 
tinent should  be  drawn  upon  to  meet  all  requirements.  It 
so  happened  that  this  suggestion  emanated  from  the  man 
who  stands  out  in  beautiful  distinction  from  the  other  Span- 
iards of  his  time,  in  his  humane  attitude  toward  slaves  both 
"West  Indian  and  African.  This  singularity  will  be  shortly 
explained.  The  suggestion  of  Las  Casas  was  adopted,  and 
thus  began  the  descent  upon  this  country  of  that  sable  and 
sinister  avalanche  which  continued  (thanks  to  our  own  in- 
dustry among  others)  until  the  middle  of  the  present  cent- 
ury, and  the  consequences  of  which  are  very  far  from  being 


PASSING    UNDER    THE    YOKE  163 

disposed  of.  It  is  to  the  negro  that  the  West  Indian  owes  it 
that  his  race  was  not  utterly  extirpated ;  and  he  is  the  sole 
gainer  by  the  transaction — such  gain  as  it  is! 

It  is  now  to  be  observed  that  the  enslaving  of  the  West 
Indians  was  done  contrary  to  the  laws  and  regulations  made 
and  provided  by  the  Spanish  government.  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  did  not  intend  their  slavery,  and  eyen  forbade  it; 
but  under  conditions  which  made  their  order  of  no  effect. 
The  trouble  had  originated  with  Columbus,  in  the  following 
manner.  On  his  second  voyage  he  found  difficulties  existing 
between  the  Spanish  colonists  and  the  Indians,  owing  to  the 
latter's  conduct  in  objecting  to  being  robbed  by  the  former. 
He  wished  to  live  in  peace  with  his  native  neighbors,  and 
cast  about  for  some  means  of  placating  them.  He  discov- 
ered that  they  were  subject  to  incursions  of  the  Caribs,  a 
race  unlike  the  other  inhabitants  of  Hispaniola;  being  fierce 
and  warlike,  and  confirmed  cannibals;  and  these  evil-minded 
Caribs,  it  appeared,  were  in  the  habit  of  landing  in  Hispan- 
iola and  carrying  off  its  denizens  for  dinner.  Columbus 
therefore  gave  permission  to  his  men  to  make  war  upon  the 
Caribs,  and,  if  possible,  to  capture  them ;  and  such  captives 
might  legally  be  held  as  slaves.  Columbus  reasoned  that  in 
delivering  man-eaters  to  Christian  slavery,  he  was  not  only 
supplying  a  crying  deficiency  in  the  labor-market,  but  was 
doing  what  he  could  to  save  the  Caribs  from  perdition ;  since 
it  was  assumed  that  the  Spaniards  would  not  only  work  their 
slaves  to  death,  but  convert  them  into  the  bargain. 

The  colonists  accepted  the  arrangement  amiably  enough; 
because  they  perceived  that,  when  they  wanted  slaves,  it  was 
only  necessary  to  go  and  get  natives,  and  then  to  declare  that 
they  were  Caribs  taken  in  battle.  Anything  would  answer 
for  a  Carib,  when  a  slave  was  required.  But  the  matter  did 
not  stop  here ;  not  only  slaves  were  wanted,  but  food  also ; 
and  this  food  could  be  had  only  by  taking  it  from  the  na- 
tives. To  stop  the  foraging  expeditions,  Columbus  ordained 
that  every  native  should  pay  tribute  to  the  colony  in  some 
small  amount ;  a  bit  of  gold  or  of  cotton ;  the  aggregate  of 


HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

which,  from  a  large  population,  would  amount  to  enough  for 
the  needs  of  the  white  men.  Upon  payment  of  his  tribute, 
each  native  was  to  receive  a  brass  token  as  a  receipt,  and  by 
showing  this  was  relieved  of  further  liabilities  till  pay  day 
came  round  again.  But  should  it  happen  that  the  tribute- 
payer  was  short  of  funds,  or  for  any  other  reason  did  not 
settle  up  on  time,  he  was  to  be  mulcted  a  few  days'  labor  on 
the  plantations  or  in  the  mines  of  his  white  creditors.  Could 
anything  be  more  moderate  and  reasonable?  Nevertheless, 
within  a  couple  of  years  this  personal  service  seemed,  some- 
how or  other,  to  have  taken  the  place  of  every  other  means 
of  paying  tribute;  and  not  only  individuals,  but  entire  vil- 
lages were  set  to  work  at  once.  Next,  the  island  was  divided 
into  shares — repartimientos — each  of  which  was  assigned  to 
a  Spaniard  or  party  of  Spaniards,  and  an  adequate  number 
of  villages  was  told  off  to  cultivate  it,  under  the  immediate 
supervision  of  their  chiefs.  This  was  feudal  villeinage,  and 
might  have  done  well  enough,  had  the  feudal  chiefs  not 
been  Spaniards,  and  had  not  Columbus,  about  that  time, 
been  superseded  in  his  government  of  the  colony. 

In  1502  a  gentle  little  blond  governor  was  sent  out,  named 
Ovando;  not  only  was  he  gentle,  but  he  was  a  knight  of  a 
religious  order ;  as  nearly  an  angel  in  short  as  a  Spanish  gov- 
ernor could  be.  And  in  fact  the  Spanish  regard  him  as  an 
almost  ideal  figure;  for  in  spite  of  his  gentleness,  he  was 
strict  and  prompt  in  discipline.  He  had  a  low  voice,  mild 
blue  eyes,  and  a  well-bred,  unobtrusive  bearing.  His  court- 
esy was  unfailing;  even  if  his  duty  forced  him  to  order  a 
gentleman  to  be  hanged,  or  a  native  to  be  lopped  to  pieces, 
he  would  express  his  pleasure  in  so  winning  a  way  that  it 
ought  to  have  reconciled  the  culprit  to  his  fate.  He  ruled 
the  roost  in  Hispaniola  for  seven  years,  the  record  of  which 
is  extant,  and  is  heavenly  reading  indeed.  We  must  be  brief 
in  our  excerpts  from  it  here.  There  was  (for  example)  a  tribe 
whose  chief  had  been  one  of  those  who  accepted  Columbus's 
invitation,  pressingly  urged,  to  accompany  him  on  his  return 
to  Spain.  This  chief  left  behind  him  a  wife,  Anacaona,  who 


PASSING    UNDER    THE    YOKE  165 

turned  out  to  be  a  notable  woman,  and  made  fame  for  her- 
self. She  went  so  far  as  to  object  to  the  domination  of  her 
spiritual  friends,  the  Spaniards,  and  was  suspected  of  coun- 
selling her  tribe  to  resist,  or  even  to  attack  them.  Ovando 
was  too  conscientious  a  governor  and  too  true  a  soldier  of 
Christ  to  tolerate  such  a  state  of  affairs.  Hispaniola  is  a 
warm  place;  its  topography  is  characterized  by  mountains 
and  ravines,  and  these  are  clothed  with  a  vegetation  which 
must  be  seen  to  be  believed ;  barbed- wire  fence  is  not  more 
difficult.  But  an  earnest  Christian  like  Ovando  is  not  to  be 
deterred  by  any  merely  tropical  obstacles.  The  village  of 
Anacaona  was  two  hundred  miles  distant  from  his  own  head- 
quarters at  San  Domingo ;  he  set  out  for  it  with  a  force  of 
three  hundred  and  seventy  men,  a  fifth  of  them  mounted.  A 
long  and  hot  march  it  was,  and  Ovando  might  have  been  par- 
doned had  he  arrived  in  rather  a  heated  condition  of  temper 
as  well  as  of  body.  But  he  was  just  as  cool,  bland  and  suave 
when  he  rode  into  the  astonished  village  as  when  he  set  out 
from  San  Domingo.  He  was  like  one  of  those  schoolmasters 
who  always  wait  to  chastise  a  refractory  scholar  until  the 
next  day,  in  order  to  prove  that  he  does  it,  not  from  temper, 
but  from  dissembled  love.  He  greeted  the  villagers  in  the 
most  friendly  manner;  and  they,  not  being  prepared  for  such 
an  invasion,  and  perceiving  that  the  number  of  their  unex- 
pected guests  was  so  large,  made  the  best  of  the  situation, 
and  were  friendly  also.  They  entertained  the  gentle  gov- 
ernor with  feasting  and  games;  and  he,  to  requite  their 
courtesy,  proposed  to  show  them  a  Spanish  tournament. 
This  gratified  them  hugely;  and  at  Ovando's  invitation  all 
the  chief  personages  of  the  neighborhood  assembled  in  a 
large  wooden  hut,  where  he  was  at  the  pains  to  address 
them,  giving,  in  a  sort  of  lecture,  an  explanation  of  the 
interesting  entertainment  which  they  were  (supposed  to  be 
about)  to  witness.  He  wore  on  this  occasion  a  tunic  on  the 
breast  of  which  was  an  image  of  God  the  Father,  the  badge 
of  his  religious  order.  While  he  was  in  the  thick  of  his  ex- 
planations, his  prayerful  comrades  surrounded  the  house  in 


166  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

which  the  exercises  were  being  held ;  and  when  the  lecturer 
raised  his  right  hand  and  laid  it  upon  the  holy  symbol,  the 
Spaniards  rushed  in  and  bound  the  audience  hand  and  foot 
— this  signal  having  been  concerted  beforehand.  Then, 
leaving  the  now  enlightened  natives  on  their  backs  on  the 
floor,  they  retired  with  the  governor,  and  set  fire  to  the 
building;  which  burned  up,  and  consumed  the  Indians  at 
the  same  time.  Anacaona  herself,  however,  was  not  in- 
cluded in  this  holocaust;  she  was  taken  to  a  conspicuous 
tree,  a  rope  placed  round  her  neck,  and  up  into  the  air  she 
went,  kicking  and  strangling,  but  preserved  henceforth  from 
the  sin  of  plotting  against  her  spiritual  guardians.  Ovando 
now  intimated  his  desire  that  several  hundred  Indians  who 
had  been  witnesses  of  this  "tournament"  should  be  forth- 
with put  to  the  test  of  having  their  throats  cut,  which  was 
enthusiastically  performed  by  the  soldiers,  and  not  one  of 
the  subjects  of  the  experiment  survived.  The  little  blond 
governor  looked  upon  his  work,  and  pronounced  it  good; 
and  in  testimony  that  his  only  object  was  the  benefit  of  all 
concerned,  he  founded  a  town  upon  the  ashes  and  blood  of 
the  late  inhabitants  of  the  village,  named  it  the  City  of  Peace, 
and  bestowed  upon  it  a  seal  bearing  the  device  of  a  dove  with 
an  olive  branch  in  its  bill. 

Returning  home  with  peace  in  his  wake,  the  gentle  knight 
next  proceeded  to  improve  the  arrangements  instituted  by  Co- 
lumbus. He  obtained  from  the  Spanish  sovereigns  permis- 
sion to  make  the  Indians  work — for  wages  of  course ;  and  to 
take  measures  to  have  them  instructed  hi  the  Christian  faith, 
while  at  the  same  time  taking  pains  to  prevent  any  violence 
being  used  in  bringing  them  to  mass.  Mass  and  massacre 
seem  to  have  been  convertible  terms  in  Ovando's  vocabulary. 
He  gave  to  each  of  his  followers  a  lot  of  Indians — from  fifty 
to  five  hundred  according  to  circumstances — with  instructions 
that  they  were  to  be  employed  as  free  servants,  and  taught 
the  holy  Catholic  religion.  Each  owner  took  his  squad  off 
in  the  bush,  and  that  was  the  last  that  was  seen  of  the 
squads;  but  in  a  short  time  the  owner  called  for  a  fresh 


PASSING    UNDER    THE    YOKE  167 

supply.  His  servants  had  been  used  partly  for  agricultural 
purposes;  at  first,  we  may  suppose,  to  hoe  the  soil,  after- 
ward to  manure  it,  the  manure  being  supplied  by  their  own 
corpses.  Others  of  them  had  been  employed  in  the  mines ; 
but  these  never  lasted  long,  and  they  choked  up  the  mines 
with  their  bones.  The  owners  worked  too,  but  their  only 
tools  were  the  whip,  the  running  noose,  and  various  cutting 
and  penetrating  instruments.  Sometimes  the  Indians  would 
je  assembled  in  groups  of  a  hundred  or  more,  and  cut  to 
pieces;  sometimes  bloodhounds  were  set  upon  them,  and 
tore  them  into  fragments;  sometimes  they  were  broiled  over 
fires,  or  again  they  would  be  impaled  on  stakes,  and  left  to 
expire  at  their  leisure.  If  one  of  them  chanced  to  be  so  un- 
grateful as  to  offend  his  master,  some  fifty  of  his  fellows 
(after  he  himself  had  been  disposed  of)  would  be  brought 
up  and  required  to  lay  their  right  and  then  their  left  hands 
on  the  block ;  after  the  hands  had  been  chopped  off  with  a 
hatchet,  they  were  allowed  to  go  about  their  business.  These 
misguided  natives  occasionally  brought  forth  babies;  but  the 
Spaniards  had  no  use  for  babies,  and  had  the  habit  of  throw- 
ing all  they  could  lay  hands  on  into  the  water  to  drown. 
These  diversions  were  varied  in  many  ways.  Once  in  a 
while  a  specially  religious  fit  would  seize  upon  the  opera- 
tors, as  when,  in  honor  of  Christ  and  his  twelve  apostles 
(as  they  averred),  they  hanged  thirteen  Indians  in  a  row, 
the  ropes  being  of  such  a  length  that  each  suspended  figure 
was  barely  able  to  touch  the  ground  with  his  toes.  Dancing 
thus,  with  little  satisfactory  ground  of  support,  their  religious 
instructors  animated  them  by  prickings  with  their  sword- 
points,  taking  care  to  give  them  as  much  time  as  possible  to 
die  in.  Such  was  the  Spanish  idea  of  doing  honor  to  Him 
who  bade  us  love  one  another,  and  do  to  others  as  we  would 
that  they  should  do  unto  us.  There  is  no  record,  however, 
that  any  of  these  obstinate  Indians  caused  Spaniards  to  dance 
after  this  fashion.  But  that  is  not  the  Spaniards'  fault.  Let 
us  conclude  our  selections  with  the  tale  of  the  gentleman  who 
made  himself  a  sort  of  gigantic  basket  of  metal  strips,  in 


168  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH   AMERICA 

which  he  placed  some  half-dozen  natives,  tied  so  that  they 
might  not  be  tempted  to  spoil  the  game  by  getting  out. 
Having  suspended  his  basket,  with  its  contents,  at  a  proper 
height  from  the  ground,  the  ingenious  experimenter  brought 
together  a  supply  of  firewood,  and  kindled  a  fire  underneath. 
The  hard  green  boughs  burned  slowly,  but  the  heat  thereof 
rose  upward,  and  soon  began  to  produce  a  gentle  broiling 
effect  upon  the  basketed  natives.  Hereupon  they  gave 
voice,  and,  to  the  intense  satisfaction  of  him  who  fed  the 
fire,  filled  the  forest  with  their  outcries.  He  calculated  that 
they  would  last  all  night;  all  he  had  to  do  was  to  sit  in 
pleased  contemplation,  adding  a  fagot  to  the  flames  once 
in  a  while ;  dozing  off  ever  and  anon,  to  be  brought  sweetly 
back  to  consciousness  by  a  louder  caterwauling  than  usual . 
Unfortunately  a  Spanish  officer  happened  to  be  sleeping  near 
by,  and  was  awakened  by  the  noise:  "In  the  devil's  name, 
kill  the  beasts,"  he  called  out,  "and  let  me  have  my  nap 
out!"  The  experimenter  was  equal  to  the  emergency;  in- 
stead of  brutally  stabbing  his  broilers,  he  simply  gagged 
them;  the  captain  slept,  the  cooking  proceeded,  and  the 
cook  had  his  pleasure.  Next  morning  the  fire  was  out,  the 
basket  contained  a  queer-looking  mass  of  charred  and  black- 
ened objects,  and  the  peaceful  snores  of  the  captain  and  the 
cook  mingled  in  the  holy  stillness  of  the  tropic  dawn.  Such 
were  the  pioneers  of  civilization  in  this  country;  and  such 
they  remained  up  to  the  time  when  at  the  request  of  our 
government  they  evacuated  the  last  remaining  of  their  pos- 
sessions in  the  western  hemisphere.  They  have  not  improved 
in  four  hundred  years ;  they  have  only  grown  feebler. 

Such  was  Hispaniola  under  the  administration  of  Ovando; 
but  if  any  one  supposes  that  he  was  not  a  person  above  re- 
proach, or  that,  in  his  conduct  as  governor,  he  was  actuated 
by  aught  save  zeal  for  Christ  and  civil  order,  he  has  only  to 
remember  that  he  went  back  to  Spain  a  poor  man — or  rich 
only  in  his  reminiscences — and  that  the  greater  part  of  such 
property  as  he  had  was  bequeathed  to  found  a  hospital  for 
needy  Spaniards.  What  the  Spaniards  may  have  been  in 


PASSING    UNDER   THE    YOKE  169 

need  of,  unless  it  were  more  broilers,  we  are  not  informed. 
Diego  Columbus  succeeded  him,  but  could  not  rival  his  rec- 
ord. By  this  time  native  slaves  had  assumed  the  dignified 
condition  of  "vested  rights,"  not  to  be  ravished  away  from 
their  fond  proprietors.  But  in  1511  one  Father  Antonio 
Montesino,  a  Dominican  monk,  preached  a  couple  of  ser- 
mons which  greatly  scandalized  the  resident  Spaniards.  In 
the  first  sermon  he  informed  his  congregation  that  they  were 
living  in  mortal  sin  and  had  no  better  chance  of  Heaven  than 
so  many  Moors  or  Turks.  He  was  warned  not  to  repeat  such 
an  outrage;  but  the  next  week  he  followed  up  his  first  de- 
nunciation with  a  second  which  was,  if  anything,  yet  more 
uncompromising.  Slave  torturers,  he  averred,  were  destined 
to  boiling  pitch  and  eternal  fire  and  brimstone,  and  not  a 
monk  in  the  West  Indies  should  grant  absolution  to  a  moth- 
er's son  of  them.  Had  the  congregation  been  as  expert  in 
logic  as  they  were  ingenious  in  devising  torments,  they  would 
have  given  Father  Antonio  a  dose  of  the  medicine  which  he 
denounced ;  but  it  does  not  seem  to  have  occurred  to  them 
that  killing  him  could  not  make  them  any  worse  off  than 
they  were  at  any  rate;  and  they  contented  themselves  with 
appealing  to  the  home  government.  Antonio  himself,  how- 
ever, went  to  Spain  to  plead  his  side  of  the  case;  and  the 
king  favored  him,  and  discussed  various  plans  of  reform; 
but  nothing  was  done  for  some  years.  This  was  a  case  in 
which  not  the  paper  orders  of  a  government  three  thousand 
miles  away,  but  only  the  personal  efforts  of  a  champion  on 
the  ground,  could  be  of  avail.  Such  a  champion  happened 
to  be  present  in  the  person  of  Las  Casas. 

Who  was  Las  Casas?  We  cannot  do  better  than  to  ab- 
stract from  Professor  Fiske's  story  the  facts  of  his  career, 
and  the  estimate  which  the  Professor  gives  of  his  character. 
It  certainly  is  not  lacking  on  the  score  of  cordiality;  but  in- 
asmuch as  we.  seldom  find  anything  Spanish  that  can  be 
regarded  as  unexceptionably  charming,  we  gladly  place  it 
upon  record.  "Las  Casas,"  says  the  historian,  "was  born 
in  Seville  in  1474.  His  family,  one  of  the  noblest  in  Spain, 


170  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

was  of  French  origin,  descended  from  the  viscounts  of  Li- 
moges. They  were  already  in  Spain  before  the  thirteenth 
century.  .  .  .  By  birth  and  training  Las  Casas  was  an 
aristocrat  to  the  very  tips  of  his  fingers.  His  father  accom- 
panied Columbus  on  the  second  voyage,  and  .  .  .  retained 
an  estate  in  Hispaniola;  the  son  came  out  with  Ovando  hi 
1502  and  settled  in  that  island.  He  was  then  twenty-eight 
years  old.  Little  is  known  of  his  first  occupations  there, 
except  that  he  seems  to  have  been  more  or  less  concerned  in 
money-making,  like  all  the  other  settlers.  But  about  1510 
he  was  ordained  as  a  priest.  He  was  a  person  of  such  im- 
mense ability  and  strength  of  character  that  in  whatever 
age  of  the  world  he  had  lived  he  would  undoubtedly  have 
been  one  of  its  foremost  men.  As  a  man  of  business  he 
had  rare  executive  power;  he  was  a  great  diplomatist  and 
an  eloquent  preacher,  a  man  of  titanic  energy,  ardent  but 
self-controlled,  of  unconquerable  tenacity,  warm-hearted  and 
tender,  calm  in  his  judgments,  shrewdly  humorous,  abso- 
lutely fearless,  and  absolutely  true."  (Really,  Professor!) 
"He  made  many  and  bitter  enemies,  and  some  of  them  un- 
scrupulous enough;  but  I  believe  no  one  has  ever  accused 
him  of  any  worse  sin  than  extreme  fervor  of  temperament. 
His  wrath  could  rise  to  a  white  heat,  and  indeed  there  was 
occasion  enough  for  it.  He  was  also  very  apt  to  call  a  spade 
a  spade,  and  to  proclaim  unpleasant  truths  with  pungent 
emphasis.  But  his  justice  is  conspicuously  displayed  in  his 
voluminous  writings.  He  was  one  of  the  best  historians  of 
his  time,  and  wrote  a  most  attractive  Spanish  style,  quaint, 
pithy,  nervous — a  style  which  goes  straight  to  the  mark  and 
rings  like  true  metal.  .  .  .  His  perfect  sincerity  is  allied 
with  a  judgment  so  sane  and  a  charity  so  broad  as  to  con- 
strain our  assent.  He  is  almost  always  ready  to  make  allow- 
ances, and  very  rarely  lets  his  hatred  of  sin  blind  him  to  any 
redeeming  qualities  there  may  be  in  the  sinner.  It  was  he 
that  said  of  Ovando  that  he  was  a  good  governor — but  not 
for  Indians.  .  .  .  Las  Casas  was  by  natural  endowment  a 
many-sided  man,  who  looked  at  human  affairs  from  various 


PASSING    UNDER    THE    YOKE  171 

points  of  view.  Under  other  circumstances  he  need  not  nec- 
essarily have  developed  into  a  philanthropist,  though  any 
career  into  which  he  might  have  been  drawn  could  not  have 
failed  to  be  honorable  and  noble.  At  first  he  seems  to  have 
been  what  one  might  call  worldly-minded.  But  the  most 
interesting  thing  about  him  we  shall  find  to  be  his  steady 
intellectual  and  spiritual  development;  from  year  to  year 
he  rose  to  higher  and  higher  planes  of  thought  and  feeling. 
He  was  at  first  a  slave  owner  like  the  rest,  and  had  seen  no 
harm  in  it.  But  from  the  first  his  kindly  sympathetic  nature 
asserted  itself,  and  his  treatment  of  his  slaves  was  such  that 
they  loved  him.  He  was  a  man  of  striking  and  easily  distin- 
guishable aspect,  and  the  Indians  in  general,  who  fled  from 
the  sight  of  white  men,  came  soon  to  trust  him  as  a  friend. 
At  the  same  time,  however,  he  was  a  good  man  of  business, 
disposed  to  make  money,  and,  as  he  tells  us,  'took  no  more 
heed  than  the  other  Spaniards  to  bethink  himself  that  his 
Indians  were  unbelievers,  and  of  the  duty  there  was  on  his 
part  to  give  them  instruction,  and  to  bring  them  to  the  bosom 
of  the  Church  of  Christ. '  He  sympathized  with  much  that 
was  said  by  Montesino,  but  thought  at  first  that  in  his  un- 
qualified condemnation  of  the  whole  system  of  slavery  that 
great  preacher  was  going  too  far.  The  heart  of  Las  Casas, 
however,  was  deeply  stirred  by  Montesino,  and  he  pondered 
much  upon  his  words.  .  .  .  'Platitudes'  about  universal 
rights  were  far  enough  from  being  self-evident  in  the  six- 
teenth century.  On  the  contrary,  they  were  extremely  un- 
familiar and  abstruse  conceptions,  toward  which  the  most 
enlightened  minds  could  only  grope  by  slow  degrees.  In 
Las  Casas  it  is  interesting  to  trace  such  a  development.  .  .  . 
When  the  work  of  Las  Casas  is  deeply  considered,  we  can- 
not make  him  anything  else  but  an  antagonist  of  human 
slavery  in  all  its  forms,  and  the  mightiest  and  most  effective 
antagonist,  withal,  that  has  ever  lived."  (Oh,  Professor!) 
"Subtract  his  glorious  life  from  the  history  of  the  past,  and 
we  might  still  be  waiting,  sick  with  hope  deferred,  for  a 
Wilberforce,  a  Garrison,  and  a  Lincoln.  ...  In  contem- 


172  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

plating  such  a  life  as  that  of  Las  Casas,  all  words  of  eulogy 
seem  weak  and  frivolous.  The  historian  can  only  bow  in 
reverent  awe  before  a  figure  which  is  in  some  respects  the 
most  sublime  and  beautiful  in  the  annals  of  Christianity 
since  the  Apostolic  age.  When  now  and  then  in  the  course 
of  the  centuries  God's  Providence  brings  such  a  life  into 
this  world,  the  memory  of  it  must  be  cherished  by  man- 
kind as  one  of  its  most  precious  and  sacred  possessions. 
For  the  thoughts,  the  words,  the  deeds  of  such  a  man 
there  is  no  death.  The  sphere  of  their  influence  goes  on 
widening  forever.  They  bud,  they  blossom,  they  bear  fruit, 
from  age  to  age." 

Let  us  now  inquire  what  it  was,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  that 
this  really  good  man  did  accomplish. 

Las  Casas  had  listened  to  the  sermons  of  Father  Antonio 
Montesino,  and  his  words  had  sunk  into  his  mind,  but  with- 
out as  yet  producing  an  active  effect  upon  him.  In  the  same 
year  Diego  Columbus  sent  Velasquez,  whose  acquaintance 
we  have  already  made,  to  conquer  and  settle  Cuba;  and  to 
Cuba  did  Las  Casas  shortly  repair.  Things  were  proceeding 
in  that  island  according  to  the  precedents  set  in  Hispaniola ; 
Las  Casas  did  what  he  could  to  mitigate  the  horrors.  Velas- 
quez gave  to  him  and  another — Pedro  de  Renteria,  also  a  good 
man — a  village  of  natives,  to  whom  it  became  the  duty  of  Las 
Casas,  as  a  priest,  to  preach  every  Sunday.  Looking  one  day 
for  a  text,  he  came  upon  a  verse  in  Ecclesiastes,  "He  that 
taketh  away  his  neighbor's  living  slayeth  him;  and  he  that 
defraudeth  the  laborer  of  his  hire  is  a  shedder  of  blood." 
This  carried  him  further  toward  the  root  of  the  matter  than 
he  had  yet  reached.  There  must  be  no  slavery  at  all; 
whether  the  slave  was  well  or  ill  treated  made  no  differ- 
ence. In  consequence  of  this  new  light,  he  gave  up  his 
own  slaves,  and  De  Renteria  was  persuaded  to  do  the  same. 
From  the  pulpit  he  preached  the  strange  doctrine  of  emanci- 
pation to  his  congregation.  The  idea  was  variously  received, 
but  the  general  attitude  was,  naturally,  hostile  to  it.  Per- 
ceiving that  mere  words  would  not  produce  the  effect  he 


PASSING   UNDER    THE    YOKE  173 

aimed  at,  Las  Casas  sold  out  his  possessions  and  went  back 
to  Spain  to  win  over  the  king.  But  Ferdinand  died  just 
before  he  reached  Seville.  Ximenes,  a  cardinal,  was  regent, 
and  he  at  once  espoused  Las  Casas's  cause.  He  appointed 
him  Protector  of  the  Indians,  with  authority  to  impeach 
judges;  it  was  decreed  that  Indians  must  be  paid  wages, 
kindly  treated,  and  taught  Christianity.  But  the  necessity 
of  getting  men  to  work  in  the  mines  was  undeniable;  and 
if  the  Indians  would  not  voluntarily  work,  what  was  to  be 
done?  It  was  at  this  juncture  that  Las  Casas  suggested 
that  the  enslavement  of  negroes  would  be  preferable  to  that 
of  Indians;  and  thereby  did  he,  who  more  than  any  other 
man  of  his  age  was  instrumental  in  discrediting  and  abating 
slavery,  give  the  signal  for  the  introduction  of  negro  slavery 
into  the  New  World.  Looking  too  earnestly  in  one  direc- 
tion, he  failed  to  see  what  impended  in  another.  It  is  true, 
of  course,  as  his  apologists  contend,  that  negro  slaves  had 
been  brought  to  the  West  Indies  before  Las  Casas  made  his 
remark ;  and  that  it  was  not  until  some  years  after  that  re- 
mark that  the  trade  assumed  large  proportions.  But  in 
truth  Las  Casas  does  not  need  defending;  he  acted  as  he 
thought  best  at  the  time ;  later  he  saw  clearer  and  improved 
his  action  accordingly.  But  the  knowledge  that  a  man  of 
his  force  and  eminence  had  at  any  time  admitted  that  negro 
slavery  was  not  so  intolerable  after  all,  was  certain  to  be 
quoted  by  those  in  quest  of  justification  for  their  flagrant 
sins.  Confronted  with  the  alternative  that  either  the  mines 
(and  consequently  the  West  Indies  themselves)  must  be  given 
up,  or  else  there  must  be  slaves  to  work  in  them,  Las  Casas, 
at  this  undeveloped  period  of  his  moral  stature,  allowed  him- 
self to  concede  that  negro  slaves  would  not  be  inadmissible. 
That  is  all  there  was  to  it,  and  it  was  not  anything  repre- 
hensible, all  things  considered.  The  moral  to  be  drawn 
from  the  incident  is,  that  eminent  men  must  be  very  care- 
ful what  they  say.  And  if  it  be  answered  that  Las  Casas 
was  not  so  very  eminent  at  that  particular  time,  then  we 
can  only  rejoin  that  he  ought  to  have  known  he  was  going 


174  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

to  be  eminent,  and  have  governed  his  tongue  in  reference 
thereto — which  is  rather  absurd. 

Meanwhile  the  effort  to  save  the  West  Indians  continued, 
Bishop  Fonseca,  that  impenitent  old  sinner,  obstructing  it 
in  every  way  he  could;  and  Cardinal  Ximenes  dying  at  an 
inopportune  juncture.  But  to  compensate  for  these  mis- 
fortunes, young  Charles  V.  turned  out  to  be  a  very  decent 
person,  and  he  took  a  fancy  to  Las  Casas.  A  plan  was  set 
on  foot  to  raise  a  company  of  Spaniards  with  a  couple  of 
hundred  ducats  each  to  join  Las  Casas  in  founding  a  colony 
on  the  Isthmus;  they  were  to  be  distinguished  from  unre- 
generate  Spaniards  by  white  uniforms  with  crosses  on  them, 
and  if  all  went  well  with  the  colony,  they  were  to  be  made 
a  religious  fraternity  by  the  Pope.  This  organization  was 
intended  by  Las  Casas  to  be  not  only  a  civilizing  agency  for 
the  Indians,  but  a  sound  business  enterprise  as  well ;  it  would 
convert  the  Indians  by  other  means  than  the  stake  and  the 
gibbet;  it  would  pay  a  good  revenue  to  the  king,  and  it 
would  serve  as  a  pattern  to  all  present  and  future  Spanish 
emigrants.  Three  years  were  needed  to  arrange  the  pre- 
liminaries of  this  affair;  a  grant  of  land  on  the  Pearl  Coast 
had  to  be  obtained  from  Charles;  and  it  was  not  until  1521 
that  Las  Casas  was  ready.  And  then  happened  a  crushing 
calamity. 

It  seems  that  a  certain  Ojeda — son,  perhaps,  of  an  earlier 
rascal  of  the  same  name — had  shortly  before  this  wanted 
slaves,  and  had  gone  to  the  Isthmus  to  get  some.  As  a 
matter  of  form,  it  was  expedient  to  make  it  appear  that  his 
captives  were  cannibals ;  and  he  therefore  took  along  a  notary 
to  question  the  chiefs  and  draw  up  a  document  to  damn  them 
withal.  Having  no  paper,  they  stopped  in  at  a  local  monas- 
tery of  Dominicans  and  borrowed  some  from  the  monks. 
Thus  armed  Ojeda  went  forth,  and,  falling  in  with  some 
Indians,  forgot  about  his  catechism,  in  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  moment,  entrapped  the  unfortunate  natives  by  treach- 
ery, killed  all  he  did  not  want,  and  carried  the  rest  to  His- 
paniola.  The  news  of  this  coup  was  circulated  among  the 


PASSING    UNDER    THE    YOKE  175 

local  tribes,  and  made  them  indignant;  so  the  next  time 
Ojeda  came  slave-hunting  he  was  himself  captured  and 
slain ;  and  perhaps  eaten — one  does  not  much  care.  Grati- 
fied by  this  success,  the  Indians  now  repaired  to  the  monas- 
tery and  slew  the  innocent  monks;  their  reason  being  that 
they  had  seen  the  monks  give  Ojeda  a  paper  "charm," 
which  had  doubtless  enabled  him  to  deceive  and  outrage 
their  fellow-tribesmen.  Las  Casas,  meantime,  was  inno- 
cently domiciling  his  moralized  settlers  on  his  grant  at 
Cumana;  but  while  he  was  absent  in  Hispaniola  to  attend 
to  some  Providential  business  there,  down  swooped  the  still 
enraged  natives  upon  his  flock  of  sheep,  and  annihilated 
the  entire  colony.  Thus  did  the  wicked  Ojeda  contrive  to 
perpetrate  mischief  even  after  he  was  dead. 

This  blow,  as  we  have  said,  was  a  crushing  one;  it 
crushed  Las  Casas  for  seven  years  or  more.  During  that 
period  he  remained  in  the  quiet  monastery  of  the  Domini- 
cans in  Hispaniola,  plunged  in  despondency.  For  hours  he 
would  sit  motionless,  perplexed  at  the  ways  of  Providence. 
It  was  his  forty  days  in  the  wilderness — a  kind  of  experience 
not  unknown  to  great  men  before  and  after  him.  How  to 
reconcile  what  the  Infinite  God  does,  with  our  finite  concep- 
tion of  what  He  is !  Small  natures  end  their  wondering  by 
pique  and  revolt;  great  natures  end  theirs  by  humility  and 
surrender.  Las  Casas  belonged  to  the  latter  category ;  and 
while  his  spiritual  lesson  was  learning,  he  educated  himself 
in  the  lore  of  the  world  and  of  the  Church;  studied  theology 
and  logic,  and  took  the  vows  .of  the  Dominican  order.  When, 
with  his  shaven  scalp,  he  came  out  of  his  long  retirement  in 
1530,  the  Spanish- American  world  had  altered  a  good  deal. 
Cortes  had  conquered  Mexico,  Alvarado  the  Berserker  had 
done  as  much  for  Guatemala,  and  an  ancient  reprobate  by 
the  name  of  Pedrarias,  whom  we  shall  know  better  before 
long,  was  just  dead  at  the  age  of  two  and  ninety,  after  a 
career  of  almost  unexampled  and  wholly  unpunished  in- 
iquity, in  the  once  happy  and  blameless  province  known 
as  Nicaragua.  Peru  had  already  been  sought  for  once  or 


176  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

twice,  and  a  final  and  successful  expedition  was  just  set- 
ting forth  under  Pizarro  and  Almagro.  Upon  this  changed 
scene  appeared  Las  Casas,  like  a  hero  of  fairy-tale  after  his 
enchanted  sleep ;  stretched  his  limbs  and  found  them  sound ; 
took  a  view  of  the  situation,  and  decided  that  the  first  thing 
to  be  done  was  to  get  a  decree  from  Charles  prohibiting 
slavery  in  the  regions  for  which  Pizarro  and  his  fellow  free- 
booter were  bound.  To  Spain  he  went  therefore  (during  his 
life  he  crossed  the  Atlantic  no  less  than  fourteen  times,  which 
was  as  much  as  to  voyage  to  the  moon  and  back  would  be 
nowadays),  got  the  decree,  and  was  commissioned  to  carry 
it  to  Peru  and  there  proclaim  it.  Had  he  done  this,  Peru- 
vian history  might  have  been  different ;  but  he  was  detained 
in  Nicaragua,  and  the  decree  proclaimed  itself  without  him 
— and  was  not  enforced.  Nicaragua,  after  all,  was  almost 
as  much  in  need  of  Las  Casas  as  Peru  could  be.  It  was  a 
shambles  and  a  torture-pen,  the  new  governor  making  ear- 
nest efforts  to  equal  the  matchless  record  of  old  Pedrarias. 
In  1536  he  went  to  Guatemala,  where  was  an  unoccupied 
Dominican  monastery,  and  in  that  he  housed  himself  with 
three  fellow  monks,  and  all  bent  their  energies  to  learning 
the  local  or  Quiche  language.  Ere  long  they  had  mastered 
it,  and  thereby  acquired  a  precious  weapon  in  their  Christian 
warfare  in  behalf  of  the  heathen.  North  of  Guatemala  was 
a  region  called  by  a  name  which  means  the  "Land  of  "War," 
because  its  inhabitants  were  exceptionally  bloody-minded  and 
given  up  to  human  stews  and  curries.  The  country  itself 
was  difficult,  being  a  riot  of  "beetling  crags,  abysmal  gorges, 
raging  torrents,  and  impenetrable  forests."  It  was  just  the 
place  for  the  Dominicans;  and  its  final  charm  was  found  in 
the  fact  that  three  Spanish  expeditions  had  already  been 
violently  repulsed  from  the  country,  leaving  not  a  few 
individuals  to  simmer  hi  the  native  pots. 

Before  starting  on  his  crusade,  Las  Casas  had  a  chat 
with  Governor  Alvarado  or  his  lieutenant,  and  came  to  an 
understanding  with  them.  No  lay  Spaniard  was  to  be  per- 
mitted to  set  foot  in  the  Land  of  War  for  the  ensuing  five 


PASSING    UNDER    THE    YOKE  177 

years,  and  in  case  Las  Casas  succeeded  in  making  respect- 
able neighbors  out  of  the  inhabitants,  there  was  never  to  be 
any  farming-out  of  villages  to  Spanish  taskmasters.  These 
precautions  gave  the  monks  a  chance;  but  even  so,  the  ad- 
venture seemed  almost  desperate.  But  they  proceeded  with 
patience  and  sagacity.  First  they  made  friends  with  certain 
Indian  traders  who  were  bound  for  the  Land  of  War,  taught 
them  a  version  of  the  Scriptures  which  they  had  translated 
into  Quiche  and  set  to  music,  and  then  sent  them  on  to  the 
cacique  of  the  country,  with  knickknacks  in  their  packs  to 
tickle  the  savages  while  their  souls  were  being  awakened. 
The  traders  did  their  work  well,  and  gave  such  a  good  ac- 
count of  the  tonsured  white  men  that  the  cacique  sent  his 
brother  to  Guatemala  to  investigate  them.  The  monks  soon 
won  over  the  brother,  and  the  latter  took  one  of  the  monks 
back  with  him,  who  was  not  long  in  converting  the  cacique 
himself  and  a  number  of  chiefs.  Las  Casas  soon  followed, 
and  in  spite  of  the  angry  opposition  of  the  native  priests, 
who  even  went  so  far  as  to  picture  the  appetizing  dishes 
that  the  white  men  would  make,  the  Indians  finally  re- 
nounced their  idols  and  their  cannibalism,  and  promised 
not  to  fight  unless  they  were  attacked.  They  acknowledged 
Charles  V.,  paid  a  small  tribute,  and  Las  Casas  had  won  his 
victory.  When  he  returned  to  Guatemala  with  the  cacique, 
the  formidable  Alvarado  doffed  his  hat  to  him,  as  being  a 
better  and  wiser  soldier  than  himself.  The  king  confirming 
the  terms  of  the  capitulation,  the  Land  of  War  became  the 
typical  Land  of  Peace,  and  the  headquarters  of  missionary 
enterprise  in  the  Isthmus.  The  new  Pope  (Paul  III.)  issued 
orders  forbidding  further  enslavement  of  Indians  under  pen- 
alty of  anathema.  These  orders  had  some  effect  in  stopping 
the  spread  of  slavery ;  but  when  it  came  to  abolishing  slavery 
already  existing  (vested  rights)  they  could  not  be  success- 
fully enforced.  The  attempt  to  enforce  them  in  Peru  was 
the  proximate  cause  of  the  rebellion  there,  which  brought 
Gonzalo  Pizarro  to  his  not  unmerited  appearance  on  the 
scaffold.  Compromises  were  adopted,  and  in  form  at  least 


178  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

slavery  gradually  gave  place  to  villeinage.  The  name  did 
not  matter;  resident  Spaniards  would  not  have  objected  to 
Paradise,  provided  they  might  continue  their  trades  of  rob- 
bery and  murder  with  impunity. 

Las  Casas  returned  to  Spain,  and  stayed  five  years  there, 
writing  valuable  historical  records;  he  was  afterward  bishop 
of  Chiapa,  near  Guatemala,  for  some  years  more;  in  1547  he 
left  America  for  the  last  time,  and  took  up  his  final  residence 
at  the  Dominican  college  in  Valladolid.  Here  he  brought 
to  an  end  his  historical  labors ;  and  he  died  peacefully  and 
holily  in  1566,  having  lived  the  most  honorable  and  useful 
life  of  any  Spaniard  thus  far  known  to  the  world. 

After  the  Conquest  of  Mexico,  that  of  Peru  was  the  next 
great  achievement  of  the  Spaniards;  the  invasion  was  made 
by  way  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  the  names  of  the  four 
Pizarros — Francisco,  Gonzales,  Pedro  and  Hernando,  half 
brothers  or  cousins  of  one  another — are  inseparably  connected 
with  the  event.  Their  operations  extended  over  about  a 
quarter  of  a  century.  The  regions  between  Peru  and  Cen- 
tral America  were  subdued  incidentally.  There  is  little  of 
importance  to  tell  about  the  minor  provinces  of  Central 
America  at  this  time;  but  some  allusion  to  the  condition 
of  things  there  may  be  permissible. 

The  Maya  race  inhabited  the  peninsula  of  Yucatan,  and 
at  the  period  of  the  conquest  they  were  divided  up  into  vari- 
ous tribes,  such  as  the  Acalans,  Tipuans,  Cocames,  Itzaecs, 
etc.,  which  were  often  engaged  in  intertribal  wars.  All 
southeastern  Mexico  and  Central  America  were  more  or 
less  under  the  dominion  of  this  great  Maya  stock ;  and  we 
find  such  strange  names  among  their  constituents  as  Tzen- 
dals,  Chinantecs,  Cakchiquels,  Ixils,  Mames,  Quiches,  and 
Huastecs,  whose  abode  was  north  of  Vera  Cruz.  Traces 
of  them  are  found  in  Honduras.  All  were  idolaters;  never- 
theless they  seem  to  have  placed  some  credence  in  the  ex- 
istence of  a  supreme  being  whom  they  called  Hunab-ku. 
Chief tainship  was  generally  hereditary;  they  had  a  system 
of  laws,  which  is  complicated  to  our  ideas,  and  was  enforced 


PASSING    UNDER    THE    YOKE  179 

with  great  severity.  They  possessed  a  calendar,  modelled, 
apparently,  after  that  of  the  Nahuas.  Some  of  the  tribes 
kept  pictographic  or  hieroglyphic  records,  painted  on  bark, 
or  sculptured  on  stone,  the  key  to  none  of  which  has  been 
discovered;  but  the  natives  themselves  asserted  that  the 
Maya  race  was  at  some  unknown  past  time  united  and 
powerful,  and  was  governed  by  a  single  ruler  who  lived 
at  Mayapen.  They  also  declared  that  they  had  originally 
come  from  the  north,  about  two  thousand  years  ago;  but 
the  attempt  to  fix  dates  in  their  history  is  at  present  hope- 
less. They  were  about  on  a  par  in  civilization  with  the 
Aztecs,  and  may  possibly  have  been  the  superiors  of  the  lat- 
ter in  some  respects.  They  lived  in  large  and  populous  towns 
or  pueblos,  such  as  Copan,  Palenque,  Peten,  Uxmal,  Kabah, 
Chichen-Itza,  Ake.  Many  of  their  strongholds,  especially 
in  Guatemala,  were  chosen  and  fortified  with  great  skill. 
Uxmal  is  about  seventy  miles  north  of  Merida,  and  the  ruins 
are  scattered  over  several  square  miles ;  but  most  of  the  great 
walls  have  been  overthrown.  They  were  raised  on  terraced 
foundations,  and  the  masonry  is  Cyclopean,  and  faced  with 
dressed  stone,  often  with  elaborate  sculptures,  as  we  have 
already  seen  in  the  descriptions  of  Mr.  Gordon,  in  our  first 
chapter.  One  of  the  Uxmal  buildings,  known  as  the  Casa 
de  las  Monjas,  surrounds  a  court  two  hundred  and  fifty-eight 
feet  long  by  two  hundred  and  fourteen  wide;  there  are  here 
no  idols  or  stucco  work,  as  at  other  pueblos.  Chichen-Itza 
is  in  northern  Yucatan,  near  Valladolid,  and  the  ruins  in- 
clude a  pyramid  five  hundred  and  fifty  feet  on  a  side;  the 
original  height  can  only  be  conjectured,  but  it  still  ascends 
seventy  feet.  Here  Mr.  Le  Plongeon  discovered  a  remark- 
able statue  which  he  called  Chacmool,  identifying  it  with  an 
ancient  chief  of  the  Mayas,  though  it  appears  to  be  of  the 
Mexican  rather  than  the  Yucetec  type.  There  is  a  notable 
pyramid  at  Ake,  thirty  miles  east  of  Merida.  The  latter 
town,  founded  on  the  ruins  of  an  ancient  Maya  pueblo  in 
1542,  is  the  present  capital  of  Yucatan. 

Topographically,   Mexico  is  a  table  land  traversed  by 


180  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

high  mountains.  Guatemala  shows  a  diversified  moun- 
tainous surface  of  a  particularly  rugged  character.  Hon- 
duras (the  name  means  Deep-Bottom)  has  high  mountain 
chains  to  the  west  with  high  open  valleys  and  plateaus ;  on 
the  north  coast  are  great  forest-grown  alluvions;  the  valleys 
are  very  fertile,  and  the  high  plains  afford  good  grazing  for 
cattle.  But  the  lands  along  the  coasts  are  hot  and  unhealthy. 
The  chief  feature  of  Nicaragua  is  the  great  depression  which 
traverses  it  from  southeast  to  northwest,  including  the  river 
San  Juan  and  the  lakes  Nicaragua  and  Managua,  which 
constitute  the  route  of  the  proposed  canal.  Most  of  the  east 
coast  is  low;  there  are  numerous  volcanoes,  and  frequent 
and  violent  earthquakes.  All  these  regions  produce  gold, 
silver,  copper  and  lead,  and  among  the  plants  cultivated  are 
sugar,  maize,  tobacco,  hemp,  coffee,  rubber,  fruits,  and  cab- 
inet woods;  cattle  are  "raised,  and  hides  are  exported.  But 
owing  to  political  complications,  the  wealth  of  these  coun- 
tries has  never  been  developed,  and  none  can  tell  of  what 
they  are  capable.  Under  a  steadfast  and  truly  economic 
administration  they  would  probably  astonish  the  world. 

Passing  southward  from  Central  America,  we  find  traces 
of  a  culture  in  some  degrees  more  advanced  than  that  of 
other  parts  of  the  New  World.  At  Chiriqui,  between  Costa 
Rica  and  Veragua,  in  the  narrow  part  of  the  Isthmus,  are 
artistic  remains  similar  to  those  further  north.  The  people 
to  whom  they  are  assigned  were  the  Chibchas,  whose  central 
habitat  was  near  the  present  Bogota,  among  the  Colombian 
mountains.  The  Chibchas  were  of  many  tribes,  and  spoke 
many  dialects  of  a  single  stock  language.  They  had  no 
means  of  recording  events,  and  their  only  way  of  writing 
was  by  rough  pictographs.  Kinship  was  through  the  female 
line,  and  the  family  idea  was  consequently  undeveloped; 
they  had  human  sacrifices,  but  seem  to  have  advanced  be- 
yond cannibalism.  Their  burial  customs  mark  a  difference 
from  the  northern  peoples;  they  embalmed  the  bodies  of 
their  chiefs  and  wrapped  them  in  cloths,  after  the  fashion 
of  Egyptian  mummies.  Their  houses  were  large,  and  of 


PASSING    UNDER    THE    YOKE  181 

pyramidal  or  conical  shape,  with  the  apex  left  off.  They 
were  made  of  adobe  clay  applied  to  timber-work.  Cotton 
cloth  was  manufactured ;  their  vehicles  were  wooden  litters ; 
their  bridges  were  made  of  ropes,  but  there  were  no  regular 
roads,  as  in  Peru.  There  were  periodical  fairs  hi  all  the 
towns,  where  goods  were  sold  by  measure  only,  and  a  cur- 
rency existed  consisting  of  round  tiles  of  unstamped  gold, 
or  of  salt,  if  the  gold  should  run  short.  The  culture  of  the 
Chibchas  was  of  a  piece  with  that  which  prevailed  all  over 
the  region  of  the  Andes  for  unnumbered  centuries  before  the 
rise  of  the  Incas.  It  was  sustained  on  the  eastern  slopes  of 
the  great  mountain  range  against  the  incursions  and  attacks 
of  a  multitudinous  savage  population,  concerning  whose 
ethnology  very  little  is  known ;  these  savages  remain  to-day 
much  in  the  same  condition  as  when  first  seen  by  the  Span- 
iards. They  have  been  provisionally  classified  in  four  groups : 
the  Caribs,  occupying  Venezuela,  Guiana,  and  some  of  the 
"West  Indian  islands,  and  the  Maypures,  from  the  sources 
of  the  Orinoco  into  Bolivia,  constitute  the  Orinoco  group: 
the  Amazonians  dwell  along  the  Amazon  River  and  its 
affluents ;  the  Tupi-Quarani  group  extends  from  the  Amazon 
to  La  Plata ;  and  the  fourth  group  is  found  south  of  these, 
and  comprises  very  diverse  tribes.  Over  against  these  sav- 
ages are  the  Quichua-Aymara  tribes,  known  to  us  as  Pe- 
ruvians, who  lived  on  the  Pacific  slope  from  the  present 
Colombia  to  Patagonia.  They  are  of  a  higher  type,  and 
enlightenment  superior  to  any  other  American  races,  north 
or  south;  and  where  they  came  from,  if  they  are  immigrants, 
or  how  they  attained  so  admirable  a  culture,  if  they  are  in- 
digenous, we  do  not  know.  The  only  historical  mysteries 
which  have  thus  far  not  only  been  unsolved,  but  which  seem 
insoluble,  are  those  attaching  to  the  races  of  this  western 
continent;  which  seemed  at  first  a  virgin  country. 

What  is  one  to  do  with  no  historical  records  to  study 
over?  The  Aztecs  did  have  some  sort  of  writing ;  and  though 
we  have  not  yet  learned  how  to  read  it,  we  may  solace  our- 
selves with  the  hope  that  enlightenment  may  some  time  come. 


182  HISTORY   OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

But  the  people  of  the  Andes  did  not  even  use  hieroglyphics; 
their  sole  documents  were  knotted  strings.  These  strings, 
which  they  called  quipus,  were  of  course  merely  aids  to 
memory,  in  the  same  way  that  a  knot  in  a  handkerchief 
enables  a  husband  to  remember  the  instructions  which  his 
wife  gave  him  when  he  set  out  for  the  city — which  could 
not  be  written  down  in  many  pages.  The  memory  of  mod- 
ern civilized  people  seems  to  be  greatly  inferior  to  that  of 
more  primitive  races;  and  no  doubt  the  ancient  Peruvians 
were  highly  cultivated  in  this  respect,  and  needed  but  a  hint 
to  recollect  whole  libraries  of  information.  But  this  fact 
does  not  help  our  contemporary  historians  and  archeologists, 
because,  though  the  quipus  may  remain,  the  people  to  inter- 
pret them  are  no  more,  and  the  tradition  of  their  knowledge 
is  lost.  There  are,  however,  some  stray  traditions  and  remi- 
niscences on  the  subject,  which  have  been  collected  by  Mr. 
Tylor  in  his  "Researches  into  the  Early  History  of  Man- 
kind." "It  is  so  simple  a  device,"  he  observes,  "that  it 
may  have  been  invented  again  and  again.  It  has  been 
found  in  Asia,  in  Africa,  in  Mexico,  among  the  North 
American  Indians ;  but  its  greatest  development  was  in 
South  America." 

The  Peruvian  quipu  "consists  of  a  thick  main  cord,  with 
thinner  cords  tied  on  it  at  certain  distances,  in  which  the 
knots  are  tied.  The  cords  are  often  of  various  colors,  each 
with  its  own  proper  meaning;  red  for  soldiers,  yellow  for 
gold,  white  for  silver,  green  for  corn,  and  so  on.  This  knot- 
writing  was  especially  suited  for  reckonings  and  statistical 
tables;  a  single  knot  meant  ten,  a  double  one  a  hundred, 
a  triple  one  a  thousand,  two  singles  side  by  side  twenty,  two 
doubles  two  hundred.  The  distances  of  the  knots  from  the 
main  cord  were  of  great  importance,  as  was  the  sequence 
of  the  branches,  for  the  principal  objects  were  placed  on  the 
first  branches  and  near  the  trunk,  and  so  in  decreasing  order. 
This  art  of  reckoning  is  still  in  use  among  the  herdsmen  of 
the  Puna  (the  high  mountain  plateau  of  Peru).  On  the  first 
branch  they  usually  register  the  bulls,  on  the  second  the 


PASSING    UNDER    THE    YOKE  183 

cows,  these  again  they  divide  into  milch  cows  and  those  that 
are  dry;  the  next  branches  contain  the  calves,  according  to 
age  and  sex,  then  the  sheep  in  several  subdivisions,  the  num- 
ber of  foxes  killed,  the  quantity  of  salt  used,  and  lastly,  the 
particulars  of  the  cattle  that  have  died.     On  other  quipus  is 
set  down  the  produce  of  the  herd  in  milk,  cheese,  wool,  etc. 
Each  heading  is  indicated  by  a  special  color  or  a  differently 
twined  knot.     It  was  in  the  same  way  that  in  old  times  the 
army  registers  were  kept ;  on  one  cord  the  slingers  were  set 
down,  on  another  the  spearmen,  on  a  third  those  with  clubs, 
etc.,  with  their  officers;  and  thus  also  the  accounts  of  battles 
were  drawn  up.     In  each  town  were  special  functionaries 
whose  duty  it  was  to  tie  and  inspect  the  quipus ;  they  were 
called  quipucamayocuna,  or  'knot-officers. '     They  were  sel- 
dom able  to  read  a  quipu  without  the  aid  of  an  oral  com- 
mentary;  when  one  came  from  a  distant  province,  it  was 
necessary  to  give  notice  whether  it  referred  to  census,  trib- 
ute, war,  etc.     They  carefully  kept  the  quipus  in  their  proper 
departments,  so  as  not,  for  instance,  to  mistake  a  tribute  cord 
for  one  relating  to  a  census.     In  modern  times  all  the  at- 
tempts to  read  the  ancient  quipus  have  been  in  vain.     The 
difficulty  in  deciphering  them  is  very  great,  since  every  knot 
indicates  an  idea,  and  a  number  of  intermediate  notions  is 
left  out.     But  the  principal  impediment  is  the  want  of  oral 
information  as  to  their  subject-matter,  which  was  needful 
even  to  the  most  learned  decipherers.     Quipus  are  found  in 
the  Eastern  Archipelago  and  in  Polynesia  proper,  and  they 
were  in  use  in  Hawaii  forty  years  ago,  in  a  form  seemingly 
not  inferior  to  the  most  elaborate  Peruvian  examples.     The 
fate  of  the  quipus  has  been  everywhere  to  be  superseded, 
more  or  less  entirely,  by  the  art  of  writing." — Enough  con- 
cerning these  literary  cats-o'-nine-tails;    it  is  evident  that 
a  British  Museum  Library  full  of  them  would  not  advance 
us  an  inch  in  our  investigation  of  the  obscure  past  of  the 
Peruvians. 

Nevertheless  we  have  traditions  in  plenty  on  such  points, 
of  which  we  can  believe  what  we  please.     Starting  with  the 


184  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

reasonable  assumption  that  there  must  have  been  a  very 
considerable  past  before  the  Spaniards  appeared,  we  may 
-construct  various  more  or  less  plausible  surmises  based  on 
the  Cyclopean  architectural  ruins  which  are  distributed  about 
the  country.     Marvellous  works  they  are,  though  their  form, 
and  the  carvings  with  which  they  are  decorated,   are  less 
impressive  than  their  mere  size  and  weight.     The  labor  of 
moving  such  masses  must  have  been  enormous,  while  on  the 
other  hand  the  mechanical  means  at  the  disposal  of  the  an- 
cient builders  are  not  known  to  have  been  other  than  primi- 
tive.    The  most  striking  of  them  are  found  at  a  place  called 
Tiahuanucu,  near  Lake  Titicaca;  and  there  have  not  been 
wanting  students  who   declare  that  such   structures  were 
probably  erected  by  builders  from  the  Old  World.    But  there 
is  little  or  no  resemblance  between  them  and  the  remains  of 
Egyptian  or  Hindu  architecture;  these  are  big  enough,  but 
they  are  rude  and  barbarous  in  design ;  one  sees  huge  mono- 
liths cut  into  the  rude  semblance  of  human  figures,  or  de- 
moniac shapes,    sometimes  thirty  or  more  feet   in  height; 
sometimes  hardly  distinguishable  from  native  rocks,  whose 
accidental  similitude  to  the  forms  of  men  may  have  prompted 
the  old  carvers  to  increase  it  by  chipping  and  cutting.     The 
Peruvians  of  Pizarro's  time  sometimes  asserted  that  these 
figures  were  those  of  men  who  had  been  turned  into  stone 
by  the  gods  for  some  sin  of  commission  or  omission  which 
they  were  supposed  to  have  perpetrated.     But  it  has  been 
very  generally  thought  that  they  were  the  handiwork  of  the 
prehistoric  Piruas. 

Since  the  Piruas  were  prehistoric,  it  is  not  to  be  expected 
that  much  historic  information  concerning  them  is  obtain- 
able. They  are  even  more  ambiguous  than  the  Toltecs  of 
Mexico,  concerning  whom  we  have  heard  Professor  Fiske 
express  such  emphatic  doubts.  According  to  Markham, 
however,  who  is  of  a  more  credulous  disposition,  we  learn 
that  "the  Piruas  governed  a  vast  empire,  erected  imperish- 
able Cyclopean  edifices,  and  developed  a  complicated  civiliza- 
tion, which  is  dimly  indicated  to  us  by  the  numerous  sym- 


PASSING    UNDER   THE    YOKE  185 

bolical  sculptures  on  the  monolith  at  Tiahuanucu.  They 
also,  in  a  long  course  of  years,  brought  wild  plants  under 
cultivation,  and  domesticated  the  animals  of  the  lofty  An- 
dean plateau.  But  it  is  remarkable,"  continues  the  his- 
torian, "that  the  shores  of  Lake  Titicaca,  which  are  almost 
treeless,  and  where  corn  will  not  ripen,  should  have  been 
chosen  as  the  centre  of  this  most  ancient  civilization.  Yet 
the  ruins  of  Tiahuanucu  conclusively  establish  the  fact  that 
the  capital  of  the  Piruas  was  on  the  loftiest  site  ever  selected 
for  the  seat  of  a  great  empire."  More  conservative  com- 
mentators speak  of  the  Piruas  as  the  traditional  name  of  a 
very  ancient  people,  the  Hatun  Runas,  who  occupied  the 
highlands  of  Peru  and  Bolivia  previous  to  the  rise  of  the  Inca 
dynasty.  "That  such  a  people  existed  is  evident  from  the 
remains  of  Cyclopean  architecture  of  a  type  different  from 
and  older  than  the  Inca  edifices.  Tiahuanucu,  which  is 
twelve  miles  from  the  southern  end  of  Lake  Titicaca,  in 
western  Bolivia,  near  the  border  of  Peru,  and  about  twelve 
thousand  nine  hundred  feet  above  the  sea,  includes  remains 
of  several  very  large  quadrilateral  buildings,  monolithic  door- 
ways, broken  statues,  etc.  The  material  is  generally  hard 
sandstone  or  trachyte,  often  in  immense  blocks,  and  it  must 
have  been  transported  twenty-five  miles  by  water  and  fifteen 
by  land.  The  blocks  were  cut  and  fitted  together  with  great 
skill,  the  joining  being  by  mortices  and  bolts.  Many  of  them 
are  elaborately  sculptured.  The  largest  and  most  remark- 
able of  the  monolithic  doorways  is  thirteen  feet  wide,  with 
a  present  height  above  the  ground  of  over  seven  feet,  and 
nearly  three  feet  thick ;  above  the  level  of  the  door  it  is  cov- 
ered with  sculptures  in  low  relief,  consisting  of  a  central 
human  figure  and  four  rows  of  smaller  figures,  some  with 
condor's  heads,  and  all  with  crowns  and  sceptres.  The 
structure  called  the  fortress  is  an  artificial  mound  or  trun- 
cated pyramid,  six  hundred  and  twenty  feet  long,  by  four 
hundred  and  fifty  wide  and  fifty  feet  high,  originally  formed 
with  terraces  which  were  faced  with  blocks  of  cut  stone. 
The  style  of  architecture  and  sculpture  are  absolutely  unique, 


186  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

and  the  exactness  of  the  squaring  and  joining  are  unsur- 
passed even  by  the  most  noted  ancient  and  modern  works 
of  the  Old  World.  The  ruins  had  been  abandoned  long 
before  the  Spaniards  came,  and  the  Indians  knew  nothing 
of  their  origin.  As  the  cold  and  sterile  region  round  the 
lake  is  unfitted  to  support  a  large  population,  it  is  conject- 
ured that  the  buildings  had  a  religious  or  ceremonial  object." 
Almost  or  quite  as  remarkable  are  the  ruins  of  Sacsa- 
huana,  which  are  by  some  ascribed  to  the  Piruas,  though 
others  contend  that  they  may  have  been  built  by  the  Incas 
as  late  as  the  fifteenth  century.  The  building  overlooks  the 
present  town  of  Cuzco  in  Peru.  The  hill  on  which  it  stands 
is  a  terrace  of  higher  mountains,  and  is  so  steep  as  to  be 
practically  unassailable  on  the  side  toward  the  city,  which 
is  but  slightly  defended.  The  principal  works  of  the  forti- 
fication (for  such  it  seems  to  be)  face  the  other  way,  enclos- 
ing a  projecting  portion  of  the  terrace.  They  consist  of  three 
walls,  each  eighteen  hundred  feet  long,  rising  one  behind 
another  and  supporting  artificial  terraces,  which  were  de- 
fended by  parapets.  The  walls  are  built  with  salient  and 
re-entering  angles,  thus  embodying  a  principle  of  modern 
fortification.  They  are  formed  of  immense  irregular  lime- 
stone blocks,  fitted  together  with  great  skill  and  accuracy ; 
some  of  these  were  evidently  taken  from  the  quarry  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  distant.  There  are  also  subsidiary  struct- 
ures; and  the  place  was  artificially  supplied  with  water. 
Most  modern  archeologists  now  assign  these  vast  ruins  to 
the  pre-Incarial  period;  but  others,  such  as  Squier,  Garci- 
lasso,  and  our  own  Fiske,  urge  us  to  regard  them  as  much 
more  recent  work.  All  parties  are  at  one  as  to  the  astonish- 
ing character  of  the  edifice.  "The  heaviest  work  of  the  for- 
tress," says  Squier,  "remains  substantially  perfect,  and  will 
remain  so  as  long  as  the  Pyramid  shall  last,  or  Stonehenge 
and  the  Coliseum  endure.  The  work  is  without  doubt  the 
grandest  specimen  of  the  style  called  Cyclopean  extant  in 
America.  The  outer  wall  is  the  heaviest.  Each  salient 
terminates  hi  an  immense  block  of  stone,  sometimes  as  high 


PASSING   UNDER   THE   YOKE  187 

as  the  terrace  which  it  supports,  but  generally  sustaining  one 
or  more  great  stones  only  less  in  'size  than  itself.  One  of 
these  stones  is  twenty-seven  feet  high,  fourteen  broad,  and 
twelve  in  thickness.  Stones  of  fifteen  feet  in  length, -twelve 
in  width,  and  ten  in  thickness  are  common  in  the  outer 
walls."  Verily,  the  builders  of  our  modern  "sky-scrapers" 
may  hide  their  diminished  heads  before  exploits  such  as  this ! 
It  might  almost  seem  as  if  the  faith  that  moves  mountains 
had  been  operating  here. 

As  we  might  anticipate,  Professor  Fiske  is  among  the 
doubters,  and  will  have  it  that  the  mighty  fortress  was  built 
by  the  Incas  "in  order  to  show  that  they  could  equal  or  sur- 
pass the  mighty  works  of  bygone  ages" — assuredly  the  most 
singular  reason  for  undertaking  so  stupendous  an  enterprise 
that  ever  was  put  forward.  "There  is  no  occasion,"  he  goes 
on,  "to  suppose  any  serious  break  in  the  continuity  of  events 
in  prehistoric  Peru.  It  is  not  necessary  to  suppose  that  the 
semi-civilization  of  the  Incas  was  preceded  by  some  other 
semi-civilization  distinct  from  it  in  character.  As  for  the 
Pirua  dynasty  of  sixty-five  kings,  covering  a  period  of  thir- 
teen centuries,  it  does  not  seem  likely  that  the  'wise  men'  of 
Cieza's  time,  with  their  knotted  strings,  could  have  preserved 
any  trustworthy  testimony  as  to  it."  He  is  fain  to  admit, 
however,  that  a  long  time  must  have  elapsed  to  enable  the 
ancient  people  occupying  this  region  to  attain  the  command 
over  nature  which  they  possessed;  and  whether  we  name 
that  people  Piruas  or  incipient  subjects  of  the  Iccas  does 
not  appear  vital ;  we  are  reminded  of  the  man  who  did  not 
believe  that  certain  plays  were  written  by  Shakespeare,  but 
"by  some  other  man  of  the  same  name."  It  is  indisputable 
that  in  Peru  the  grade  of  culture  found  in  Mexico  at  the  time 
of  the  Conquest  must  have  been  reached  and  passed  many 
ages  earlier.  In  proof  of  this  we  have  the  fact  that  the 
Peruvians  alone  had  succeeded  in  domesticating  animals; 
only  the  dog  had  been  adapted  to  man's  service  in  other 
parts  of  America.  The  domestic  llama,  for  instance,  was 
derived  from  the  wild  huanacu;  and  the  alpaca  from  the 
—  9 


188  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

vicuna.  Many  centuries  would  be  required  in  order  to  bring 
about  these  results.  Several  varieties  of  maize  were  also 
produced  under  cultivation;  and  the  Peruvian  species  of 
cotton  plant  is  known  to  exist  only  as  it  appears  under  cul- 
tivation. Wild  tubers  are  found  in  Peru,  from  which  the 
potato  was  educed.  Now  it  has  been  proved  by  experiment 
that  wild  potatoes  require  a  very  long  time  to  put  on  a  civil- 
ized complexion.  It  was  in  Peru  that  the  potato  as  we  know 
it  was  first  discovered.  It  was  not  cultivated  north  of  Darien ; 
Raleigh  brought  the  first  specimens  to  Ireland  in  1586;  but 
it  was  not  until  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  that  they 
came  into  general  use  in  Europe.  The  Peruvians  practiced 
irrigation,  and  manured  their  crops  with  guano.  Thus  in 
one  way  and  another  they  had  reached  what  Mr.  Morgan 
would  call  the  upper  state  of  barbarism  hundreds  of  years 
before  the  Aztecs  did  so;  and  during  those  centuries  they 
naturally  made  great  strides  toward  a  higher  level  of  cult- 
ure. If  they  had  only  invented  something  better  than 
quipus  for  keeping  their  records,  they  would  no  doubt  have 
been  actually  civilized  according  to  Morgan  standards.  They 
might  in  that  case  have  been  led  to  discover  the  uses  of  iron, 
which  was  present  in  the  ground  in  unlimited  quantities; 
bronze  instruments  they  did  possess,  but  no  blacksmith's 
appliances.  Again,  the  absence  of  any  other  cattle  than 
the  llamas  and  alpacas  kept  the  Peruvians  in  the  rear  of 
progress;  there  were  no  wild  animals  in  South  America  out 
of  which  horses  and  cows  could  be  developed;  nor  did  the 
wild  slopes  of  the  Andes  afford  fitting  opportunity  for  a 
pastoral  life.  Agriculturists  the  Peruvians  could  be,  and 
were;  but  the  patriarchal  form  of  existence  was  unknown 
fco  them.  They  were  a  nation,  but  the  manner  in  which 
they  came  to  be  a  nation  differed  from  the  manner  in  which 
nationality  was  attained  in  the  Old  World. 

The  materials  for  this  nation  were  provided  by  the  four 
tribes — Quichuas,  Incas,  Canas  and  Cauchis — scattered  over 
the  northwest  of  South  America.  They  were  all  mountain- 
eers, short  but  active  and  strong,  with  soft  brown  skins, 


PASSING    UNDER    THE    YOKE  189 

black  hair,  and  arched  noses.  At  first  the  tribes  were  com- 
posed of  clans;  bat  the  Incas  settled  in  the  lofty  valley  of 
Cuzco,  and  from  that  coign  of  vantage  gradually  subdued 
the  other  tribes.  Unlike  the  Aztecs,  they  confirmed  their 
conquests  not  by  exacting  tributes,  but  by  military  occupa- 
tion of  the  subject  territory.  The  town  of  Cuzco  was  built 
about  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  the  work  of  in- 
ternal organization  was  begun.  It  is  at  this  point  that  solid 
historical  information  first  comes  to  hand.  A  succession  of 
head  chiefs  or  kings  had  already  been  instituted,  and  these 
monarchs  were  called  Incas  par  excellence — the  Inca  of  all 
other  minor  Incas.  To  this  general  name,  nicknames  were 
added,  by  way  of  distinguishing  them.  Finally,  the  eighth 
in  the  line  was  called  Viracocha,  which  means  sun-god,  and 
indicated  that  by  that  epoch  the  Incas  had  acquired  some- 
thing of  the  divinity  which  doth  hedge  a  king.  Viracocha 
annexed  the  land  of  the  Aymaras,  who  are  suspected  of  de- 
scent from  the  builders  of  Tiahuanucu.  In  the  next  reign 
the  strong  tribe  of  the  Chancas,  living  close  to  the  equator, 
resisted  the  march  of  conquest,  but  were  finally  defeated  un- 
der the  walls  of  Cuzco,  and  their  country  was  afterward 
annexed.  The  Chimus,  who  gave  its  name  to  Chimborazo, 
were  the  next  victims  of  the  Incas,  who  now  ruled  the  region 
from  Lake  Titicaca  to  the  equator,  and  from  the  Andes  to 
the  sea.  It  was  under  the  Inca  Yupanqui  that  this  conquest 
took  place,  and  he  is  regarded  as  the  great  hero  of  Peruvian 
history.  To  him  was  applied  the  surname  Pachacutec — 
Changer  of  the  World. 

The  successor  of  this  champion  extended  the  dominion  of 
his  people  so  much  further  that  it  became  necessary  to  found 
the  city  of  Quito  to  keep  watch  over  the  southern  portion  of 
the  empire.  He  brought  in  the  valley  of  Pachacamac,  where 
there  was  an  ancient  and  desirable  temple;  and  also  pene- 
trated far  into  Chili.  His  son  and  successor,  Huayiia  Capac, 
defeated  a  rebellion  of  some  tribes  near  Quito,  and  it  was  plain 
that  the  empire  was  of  such  length  that  while  it  was  being 
kept  in  order  at  one  end  it  was  liable  to  break  loose  at  the 


190  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

other.  Huayna  Capac  died  in  1523 ;  his  son  Huascar  became 
involved  in  civil  war  with  his  bastard  brother  Atahualpa,  and 
this  war  was  in  progress  at  the  time  of  Pizarro's  invasion. 
Peru  was  then  twenty-seven  hundred  miles  in  length  and 
about  three  hundred  wide.  And  this  enormous  area  of  eight 
hundred  thousand  square  miles  was  not  merely  conquered 
but,  occupied  and  assimilated,  and  governed  from  an  admin- 
istrative centre.  The  Inca  language  was  spoken  through- 
out the  empire,  though  of  course  the  several  languages  of 
the  component  tribes  were  not  obliterated.  Cannibalism  was 
abolished  or  discouraged ;  garrisons  were  distributed  through- 
out the  empire  at  strategic  points,  and  were  connected  by  the 
famous  roads  which  have  been  the  wonder  and  admiration 
of  the  world.  They  started  from  Cuzco  as  a  centre  and  di- 
verged to  all  parts  of  the  country.  Their  average  width  was 
about  twenty-five  feet,  and  they  were  almost  as  level  as  rail- 
roads, which  is  saying  a  great  deal  when  one  remembers  the 
rugged  and  rocky  topography  of  the  Incas's  dominions.  There 
was  a  central  highway  from  Quito  to  Cuzco  and  thence  south- 
ward which  is  thus  described  by  the  historian  Cieza:  "1  be- 
lieve that  since  the  history  of  man  has  been  recorded,  there 
has  been  no  account  of  such  grandeur  as  is  to  be  seen  in  this 
road,  which  passes  over  deep  valleys  and  lofty  mountains,  by 
snowy  heights,  over  falls  of  water,  through  live  rocks,  and 
along  the  edges  of  furious  torrents.  In  all  these  places  it  is 
level  and  paved,  along  mountain  slopes  well  excavated,  by 
the  mountains  well  terraced,  through  the  living  rock  cut, 
along  the  river  bank  supported  by  walls,  in  the  snowy  heights 
with  steps  and  resting-places,  in  all  parts  clean-swept,  clear 
of  stones,  with  post  and  store  houses  and  temples  of  the  Sun 
at  intervals.  Oh !  what  greater  things  can  be  said  of  Alex- 
ander or  of  any  of  the  powerful  kings  that  have  ruled  in  the 
world,  than  that  they  had  made  such  a  road  as  this  and  con- 
ceived the  works  that  were  required  for  it !  The  roads  con- 
structed by  the  Romans  in  Spain  are  not  to  be  compared  with 
it."  The  post-houses  were  some  four  or  five  miles  apart,  and 
in  each  were  two  Indians,  who  carried  messages  to  and  from 


PASSING   UNDER   THE    YOKE  191 

the  next  house  in  line,  whereby  the  government  was  kept 
constantly  informed  of  what  was  going  on  in  all  parts  of  its 
dominions.  In  this  way  messages  could  travel  at  the  rate 
of  nearly  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  a  day.  The  only  weak 
point  about  the  Inca  roads  was  the  crossing  of  streams  or 
abysses.  They  .did  not  know  the  secret  of  the  arch,  and 
were  not  skilled  enough  joiners  to  make  bridges  of  wood. 
Transverse  planks  were  laid  upon  osier  ropes  thrown  across 
the  chasm,  and  the  passenger  was  steadied  on  his  precari- 
ous transit  by  a  rope  railing.  It  is  a  pity ;  an  Inca  bridge 
of  Cyclopean  masonry,  spanning  some  enormous  ravine  of 
the  Andes,  would  have  been  a  fine  spectacle  for  future 
generations ! 

Meanwhile,  those  future  generations,  now  the  present 
ones,  have  constructed  bridges  and  roads — railroads — of 
their  own;  and  there  is  a  description  of  one  by  Theodore 
Child  which  is  worth  reproducing.  "Our  descent  from 
Chicla  to  Lima"  (Chicla  is  over  twelve  thousand  feet 
above  sea  level)  "was  accomplished  by  means  of  two 
hand-cars  coupled  together  and  each  provided  with  a 
brake;  they  are  run  by  gravitation  alone  all  the  way 
to  Lima,  interrupted  only  by  the  gap  due  to  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Verrugas  viaduct.  At  certain  moments  the 
speed  was  alarming,  and  had  the  brakes  given  way  we 
should  have  been  inevitably  launched  into  eternity  down 
one  of  the  many  precipices  which  we  skirted.  As  we  passed 
through  one  long,  dark  tunnel  the  men  on  the  first  seat  of 
the  forward  car  received  on  their  laps  a  young  jackass  that 
had  strayed  on  the  track.  So  we  sped  along,  admiring  the 
scenery,  and  noting  the  rare  incidents  of  the  landscape — a 
waterfall,  a  bridge,  an  artificial  tunnel  cut  through  the  rock 
so  as  to  divert  the  Rimac  torrent  from  its  old  bed  in  which 
the  rails  are  now  laid;  a  tunnel  high  up  above  our  heads 
through  which  we  came  a  few  moments  ago;  a  condor  soar- 
ing across  the  sky ;  a  train  of  pack-mules  and  donkeys  wind- 
ing along  at  the  bottom  of  a  ravine  a  thousand  feet  below 
us,  under  charge  of  Indians ;  a  Cholita  standing  to  watch  us 


192  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

shoot  past,  her  long  black  hair  bedecked  with  large  passion- 
flowers; the  green  mountain -sides  terraced  to  an  incredible 
height  by  the  old  Incas;  here,  an  Inca  acqueia  running  sinu- 
ously along  a  steep  slope  hundreds  of  feet  above  the  torrent; 
there,  a  brown  mass  of  Inca  ruins.  And  so  we  reach  the 
lower  valley,  and  enter  Lima  just  as  the  late  afternoon  sun 
is  gilding  the  stucco  towers  and  casting  long  purple  shadows 
over  the  Cerro  of  San  Cristobel. 

"The  Oroya  road,"  he  continues,  "is  a  remarkable  piece 
of  engineering  work,  executed  perhaps  not  wisely  but  too 
well.  The  difficulties  surmounted  are  enormous.  The  con- 
structor, an  American,  Henry  Meiggs,  used  to  say  at  certain 
arduous  points,  'The  line  has  to  go  there,  and  if  we  can't  find 
a  road  for  it,  we'll  hang  the  track  from  balloons. '  This  illus- 
trates how  boldly  and  almost  recklessly  the  line  has  been 
built ;  and  even  now,  fine  as  the  work  is,  it  is  in  constant 
danger  of  destruction  in  many  parts.  Every  year  sections 
of  the  line,  bridges,  and  viaducts  are  swept  away  by  floods 
and  landslips  which  cannot  be  foreseen.  A  waterspout  bursts 
on  a  mountain  peak,  an  immense  volume  of  mud,  water  and 
bowlders  dashes  down,  and  half  an  hour  later  all  is  calm 
again ;  but  the  railway  track  has  disappeared,  or  one  of  the 
bridges  will  be  found  twisted  into  a  knot  half  a  mile  away 
from  its  proper  place.  The  working  of  the  line  is  also  very 
expensive  on  account  of  the  high  price  of  coal  and  the  quan- 
tity wasted  by  the  continuous  firing  required  to  force  the 
train  up  the  steep  gradients. — The  number  of  bridges  is  six- 
teen, the  longest  being  the  174-metre  viaduct  of  Verrugas, 
now  destroyed.  The  Oroya  line,  on  which  the  Peruvian 
loan  of  £5,520,000  sterling  was  spent,  was  not  finished  for 
want  of  funds,  and  the  completed  portion  has  never  paid. 
The  original  idea  was  to  carry  the  line  to  Oroya  in  the 
transandine  province  of  Junin,  and  the  survey  and  much 
of  the  work  was  done  before  the  money  gave  out  in  1873. 
The  summit  tunnel  through  the  Paso  de  Galera,  about  twelve 
hundred  metres  long,  is  open,  and  from  the  plains  it  seems 
to  be  an  interesting  piece  of  work,  being  on  a  vertical  curve 


PASSING   UNDER   THE    YOKE  193 

with  slight  gradients.  It  is  15,700  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  sea." 

If  Mr.  Henry  Meiggs,  with  all  the  resources  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  at  his  back,  met  with  such  difficulties,  we  may 
estimate  what  the  ancient  Incas  had  to  overcome  seven  or  eight 
hundred  years  before,  without  iron  or  coal  or  any  horse-power 
to  help  them.  And  it  does  not  appear  that  the  roads  they 
built  were  at  the  mercy  of  landslips,  floods  or  waterspouts. 

In  order  to  preserve  order  among  their  subjects,  the  Incas 
had  the  habit — like  the  English  in  the  case  of  the  Acadians, 
and  the  old  Asiatic  monarchs  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon — of 
transferring  populations  from  their  original  habitat  to  some 
distant  place.  Such  was  the  fate  that  befell  the  inhabitants 
of  Lake  Titicaca;  Quito  was  peopled  from  the  region  near 
Cuzco,  and  the  same  practice  was  observed  in  Chili.  All 
this  tended  to  break  down  the  primitive  tribal  institutions. 
There  was  no  conception  of  representative  government,  but 
only  a  military  despotism,  exercised  by  a  royal  family  which 
belonged  to  a  ruling  caste.  It  is  stated  by  a  native  historian 
that  the  "Incas  were  free  from  such  temptations  as  passion 
for  women,  envy,  and  covetousness,  because  if  they  desired 
beautiful  women  it  was  lawful  for  them  to  have  as  many 
as  they  liked.  The  same  thing  might  be  said  of  their  prop- 
erty ;  for  as  they  never  could  feel  the  want  of  anything,  they 
had  no  reason  to  covet  the  goods  of  others ;  while  as  gover- 
nors they  had  command  over  all  the  property  of  the  Sun  and 
of  the  Inca.  They  likewise  had  no  temptation  to  kill  either 
for  revenge  or  passion,  for  no  one  ever  offended  them.  On 
the  contrary,  they  received  adoration,  and  if  any  one,  no 
matter  how  high,  had  enraged  an  Inca,  it  would  have  been 
looked  upon  as  sacrilege  and  severely  punished."  These 
remarks,  it  will  be  observed,  appty  not  to  the  Inca  sover- 
eigns, but  to  the  whole  Inca  tribe ;  and  one  can  only  envy 
their  Paradisiacal  state.  The  earth  was  theirs  and  the  full- 
ness thereof,  and  consequently  they  were  sinless.  "The  King 
can  do  no  wrong"  was  a  dogma  which  the  Peruvians  accepted 
au  pied  de  la  lettre. 


194  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

The  king  had  powers  which  for  ordinary  purposes  were 
absolute ;  he  was  chief  in  war,  and  head  priest,  and  the  keys 
of  heaven  and  earth  were  in  his  hands.  Yet  there  was  a 
council,  which  he  might  consult  upon  occasion,  and  which 
seems  sometimes  to  have  deposed  unsuitable  monarchs.  The 
religipn  of  the  country  was  a  combination  of  Sun  and  An- 
cestor worship,  with  a  sort  of  monotheism  in  the  background ; 
they  perceived  that  things  must  have  been  made  by  some 
superior  being,  and  they  called  him  Pachacamac;  but  they 
did  not  attempt  to  lift  their  minds  to  supernatural  concep- 
tions. There  was  a  single  oracular  temple  of  Pachacamac, 
near  the  site  of  the  present  Lima,  very  old,  and  built  of 
adobe  brick.  Pilgrims  came  thither,  as  do  the  Mohamme- 
dans to  Mecca.  But  the  general  popular  worship  was  Sun 
worship,  with  incidental  courtesies  paid  to  the  moon,  the 
chief  planets,  and  the  Pleiades.  There  were  four  great  fes- 
tivals, with  sacrifices  of  llamas  and  other  animals  and  of 
vegetables,  with  beer  and  fine  cloths.  No  human  sacrifices 
were  tolerated  by  the  Incas.  The  hierarchy  which  officiated 
at  these  ceremonies  presented  several  similitudes  to  those  in 
the  Old  World,  as  did  the  mortuary  practices.  At  each 
autumnal  equinox  a  new  fire  was  kindled  by  collecting  the 
sun's  rays  on  a  burnished  mirror,  and  this  fire  was  kept  alive 
throughout  the  year  by  consecrated  maidens,  who  lived  in 
convents.  If  one  of  these  maidens  broke  her  vow  she  was 
buried  alive.  There  were  about  fifteen  hundred  of  these 
vestals;  and  as  they  were  vowed  to  the  Sun,  and  as  the 
Inca  was  the  earthly  representative  of  that  divine  luminary, 
it  followed  that  these  vestals  were  concubines  of  the  mon- 
arch. Every  reigning  Inca  had  several  hundred  recognized 
children,  and  how  many  others  no  man  can  tell. 

In  spite  of  this,  the  Inca  could  have  but  one  wife,  and  she 
must  be  his  full  sister.  The  eldest  son  of  this  incestuous  mar- 
riage was  the  heir-apparent  to  the  throne.  If  there  were  no 
children  by  a  first  sister- wife,  the  Inca  married  the  next  sister, 
and  so  on  until  the  required  heir  was  born :  his  other  hundreds 
of  offspring  were  legitimate,  but  could  not  ascend  the  throne. 


PASSING    UNDER    THE    YOKE  195 

As  regards  the  ownership  of  land  in  Peru,  the  inhabitants 
of  a  village,  as  a  community,  owned  the  land  adjoining  their 
settlement;  and  it  was  divided  up  into  small  parcels  of  the 
same  size,  each  of  which  could  support  a  man  and  his  wife; 
and  for  each  child  born  to  the  pair,  another  tupu  was  added. 
At  intervals  there  was  a  general  redistribution.  The  prod- 
uce of  the  land  was  divided  in  three  parts,  one  for  the  Inca, 
one  for  the  priesthood,  and  one  for  the  cultivator.  If  a  vil- 
lage had  been  impoverished  by  war,  it  was  helped  out  by 
assessing  its  neighbors.  There  was  little  division  of  labor, 
but  each  man  could  turn  himself  to  any  employment;  thus 
was  military  organization  applied  to  industrial  purposes. 
The  state  was  based  on  the  principle  of  communistic  despot- 
ism. The  members  of  the  Inca  tribe,  and  the  priests,  were 
non-producers,  and  lived  in  luxury  and  innocence,  without 
labor. 

Gold  in  abundance  was  found  in  the  river  sands,  but  it 
was  not  used  as  currency,  but  only  as  ornaments  for  the  Inca 
and  for  decorative  purposes.  All  trade  was  barter.  Weapons 
of  war  and  agriculture  were  of  bronze.  Pottery  was  pro- 
duced in  great  quantities,  but  was  not  superior  to  that  of 
Mexico.  Upon  the  whole,  the  Peruvian  empire  was  far 
in  advance  in  most  practical  respects  to  the  Aztecs,  but  was 
rendered  somewhat  rigid  and  spiritless  by  the  despotic  form 
of  the  government.  The  social  customs  were  comparatively 
gentle  and  humane.  Their  literature  is  necessarily  not  ex- 
tensive, at  least  in  accessible  form,  for  knots  in  strings  are 
an  untoward  vehicle  of  poetry  and  romance ;  but  some  poems 
and  plays  of  Incarial  times  are  extant,  having  been  taken 
down  from  oral  tradition.  It  seems  strange  to  us  that  a 
people  so  intellectual  as  the  Incas  must  have  been,  could 
have  got  along  without  literature  in  the  shape  of  books ;  but 
they  do  not  seem  to  have  noted  the  deficiency  themselves, 
and  we  can  but  conclude  that  there  are  more  ways  than  one 
of  keeping  the  soul  alive. 


196  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH   AMERICA 


III 

PIZARRO 

SUCH  were  the  inhabitants  of  Peru  at  the  time  Pizarro 
made  his  first  attempt  to  explore  their  country,  con- 
cerning the  wealth  of  which  interesting  reports  had 
long  been  coming  to  Spanish  ears.  We  are  now  ready  to 
examine  the  circumstances  under  which  this  attempt  was 
made.  If  the  number  of  the  invaders  seems  ridiculously 
inadequate,  we  must  remember  that  in  spite  of  the  power 
and  wealth  of  the  Incas,  and  their  success  in  subjecting 
tribes  inferior  to  themselves,  they  yet  were  wholly  incom- 
petent to  resist  men  disciplined  and  armed  as  were  the  Span- 
iards. They  had  already  begun  to  be  softened  by  luxury 
and  the  long  exercise  of  powers  almost  undisputed ;  and  had 
the  Spaniards  not  attacked  them,  it  is  probable  that  they 
might  ere  long  have  fallen  victims  to  the  various  savage 
tribes  of  the  lowlands,  or  to  the  invincible  Araucanians,  who 
dwelt  on  the  southern  confines  of  the  empire,  and  had  not 
only  never  been  conquered  by  the  Incas,  but  who  resisted 
the  utmost  efforts  of  the  Spaniards  themselves  during  hun- 
dreds of  years,  and  are  unconquered  even  to  this  day— 
though,  to  be  sure,  it  might  prove  a  difficult  task  to  discover 
the  tribe  in  their  ancient  domain.  The  invaders  were  also 
helped  by  the  fact  that  the  despotic  form  of  the  Inca  govern- 
ment had  slowly  robbed  the  people  of  all  spirit  and  initiative ; 
their  minds  were  not  in  a  condition  to  grasp  new  ideas  or 
meet  novel  emergencies;  and  inasmuch  as  the  Spaniards 
were  altogether  novel  to  them,  and  mysterious  and  fearful, 
and  capital  fighters  into  the  bargain — it  is  no  marvel  that 
the  conquest  was  no  harder  than  it  was.  In  fact,  one  need 
hardly  have  been  surprised  had  it  been  easier. 

The  first  movements  leading  up  to  the  invasion  took  place 


PIZARRO  197 

soon  after  the  entrance  upon  the  viceroyalty  of  Diego  Colum- 
bus. Two  men,  Ojeda  (the  first  of  that  name)  and  Nicuesa, 
were  appointed  by  the  Spanish  crown  to  the  governorships 
of  the  regions  between  the  gulfs  of  Darien  and  Maracaibo, 
for  the  former;  and  of  the  Veragua  and  Honduras  coasts 
for  the  latter.  Diego  Columbus  regarded  these  appointments 
as  trenching  upon  his  preserves,  and  the  consequence  was 
that  he  and  these  rivals  of  his  were  by  no  means  in  harmony 
with  one  another.  Ojeda  and  Nicuesa  also  quarrelled  be- 
tween themselves  as  to  the  boundaries  of  their  domains ;  and 
their  attempt  to  secure  Jamaica  as  their  base  of  supplies  was 
defeated  by  Columbus.  They  set  out,  however,  Ojeda  getting 
off  first ;  he  met  with  disaster  immediately,  and  his  life  was 
narrowly  saved  by  Nicuesa.  Ojeda  went  back  to  Hispaniola 
for  supplies,  but  never  returned.  All  this  was  about  1509. 

An  expedition  under  Enciso  was  sent  out  meanwhile, 
accompanied  by  Nunez  de  Balboa  as  a  stowaway ;  but  this 
irregularity  on  his  part  was  compensated  by  the  fact  that 
he  was  the  only  man  on  board  who  had  visited  the  Isthmus 
before.  At  his  suggestion,  they  landed  on  the  west  shore 
of  the  Gulf  of  Uraba,  and  began  the  building  of  a  town ;  and 
question  arose  as  to  whether  Enciso,  Balboa,  or  Nicuesa  (in: 
whose  province  they  were)  should  be  their  leader.  Nicuesa, 
however,  was  speedily  put  out  of  consideration  by  death; 
he  had  met  with  every  sort  of  misfortune,  and  out  of  seven 
hundred  men  in  his  party  only  seventy  remained  alive. 
Enciso  was  unpopular,  and  Balboa  the  stowaway  was  elected 
chief.  He  promptly  made  the  mistake  of  antagonizing  En- 
ciso, who  thereupon  sailed  for  Spain  with  revenge  in  his 
heart  and  complaints  on  his  lips.  When  these  Spaniards 
were  not  murdering  natives  they  were  trying  to  destroy 
one  another. 

Balboa  made  an  alliance  with  the  local  chief,  and  mar- 
ried his  daughter;  nothing  had  at  this  time  (1512)  been  sus- 
pected of  the  existence  of  Mexico,  but  evidences  of  superior 
culture  were  already  forthcoming.  The  chief  presented  the 
strangers  with  various  things,  among  others  with  a  quantity 


198  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

of  gold,  which  was  not  valued  by   the  natives  except  for 
ornamental  purposes.     Perceiving  the  sacra  fames  in  the 
Spanish  faces  at  the  sight  of  this  treasure,  the  chief  remarked 
that  if  they  really  cared  for  the  stuff,  they  had  better  go 
west  and  south,   where  dwelt  a  nation  that  used  gold  for 
pottery  and  building  material.     This  was  the  first  hint  of 
Peru,  and  tiie  death  warrant  of  that  country  was  signed 
on  that  day,  though  some  years  were  to  elapse  before  her 
head  was  struck  off.     It  was  also  revealed  by  this  too  loqua- 
cious chief  that  the  kingdom  of  the  Incas  was  bordered  by 
a  mighty  ocean.      Balboa   despatched  the   news,   together 
with  the  king's  fifth  of  the  gold,  to  Spain;  but  the  ship 
was  wrecked  in  the  Caribbean,  and  this  anchor-to-windward 
therefore  failed  to  connect.     The  treasure  still  lies  at  the 
bottom  of  the  sea,  for  lucky  fishermen  to  haul  up.     Balboa 
now  received  from  Hispaniola  his  commission  as  governor 
of  Darien ;  but  his  pleasure  in  this  advancement  was  dashed 
by  the  news  that  legal  proceedings  were  taken  against  him 
in  Spain,  at  Enciso's  instance.     He  must  confirm  his  position 
by  some  striking  achievement.     With  a  squad  of  two  hun- 
dred men  he   started  westward  in  1513,  and  climbing  the 
sierra,   he  and  his  men  saw  the  vast  of  the  Pacific  spread 
mistily  in  unknown  distances  at  their  feet.     Four  days  later 
— on  September  29th — he  reached  the  shore  and  put  out  on 
the  ocean  in  a  boat,  by  way  of  annexing  it  to  Spain.     The 
natives  on  the  coast  confirmed  the  report  that  there  was 
a  land  of  gold  further  south.     Returning  now  to  Darien  he 
found  that  the  news  of  wealth  which  had  reached  Spain  had 
had  an  enormous  effect.     No  less  than  fifteen  hundred  men 
were  headed  for  the  promised  land,  provided  with  a  governor 
in  the  shape  of  Pedrarias  Davila,  seventy  years  old,  but  des- 
tined during  the  remaining  twenty  years  of  his  career  to 
accomplish  the  death  (according  to  the  Spanish  chronicler 
Oviedo)  of  some  two  million  persons.     He  was  a  favorite  of 
Fonseca,  as  might  be  expected. 

Oviedo  was  inspector-general  of  the  new  colony,  Espinosa 
was  chief  judge,  and  Balboa's  enemy  Enciso  was  chief  con- 


PIZARRO  199 

stable;  and  the  first  person  he  arrested  was  naturally  Balboa 
himself.  He  was  released,  however,  and  for  two  years  kept 
out  of  jail.  But  Pedrarias  was  his  enemy;  the  latter's  In- 
dian policy  was  murder  and  robbery,  which  Balboa  was  too 
humane  and  sagacious  to  support.  Finally,  by  a  sort  of 
compromise,  Balboa  was  commissioned  to  make  a  voyage 
down  the  Pacific  coast  and  find  out  about  that  golden  king- 
dom. He  took  four  ships  to  pieces  on  the  Atlantic  coast, 
carried  them  across  the  Isthmus,  and  rebuilt  and  launched 
them  on  the  other  side;  and  only  needed  a  little  pitch  and 
iron  to  set  sail.  Meantime  the  rumor  went  that  Pedrarias 
was  to  be  supplanted  by  one  Lope  de  Sosa.  Now  Balboa 
had  reason  to  wish  Pedrarias  out  of  the  way,  but  was  not 
sure  that  Sosa  might  not  countermand  the  expedition;  so  he 
arranged  to  send  a  trusty  messenger  back  to  see  just  how  the 
land  lay.  Some  conversation  relative  to  this  point  was  over- 
heard by  a  sentry,  and  by  him  interpreted  as  treason;  and 
he,  co-operating  with  a  man  who  had  incurred  Balboa's 
enmity  by  making  advances  to  his  Indian  wife,  plotted  to 
ruin  him.  Pedrarias  was  but  too  ready  to  listen  to  their 
tales,  and  smoothly  invited  Balboa  to  step  over  to  Acla  to 
attend  to  a  little  matter  of  some  importance.  An  astrologer 
had  once  told  Balboa  that  should  he  ever  behold  a  certain 
planet  in  a  particular  place  in  the  sky,  it  would  bode  him 
desperate  danger,  which  if  he  should  evade  he  would  become 
the  greatest  lord  in  the  Indies.  At  this  juncture,  the  star 
appeared;  but  Balboa  was  not  feeling  superstitious  just  then, 
and  accepted  Pedrarias's  invitation  in  good  faith.  Before 
he  had  got  to  Acla  there  came  a  band  of  soldiers  to  arrest 
him,  commanded  by  one  Francisco  Pizarro,  who  had  for- 
merly been  a  subaltern  under  Balboa.  Balboa  made  no  re- 
sistance, but  when  told  that  he  was  charged  with  treason, 
remarked  that  a  man  guilty  of  that  crime  would  not  have 
been  likely  to  return  to  the  lion's  den  to  be  devoured.  No 
matter;  justice  was  not  what  Pedrarias  wanted  but  simply 
Balboa's  head;  which  he  received  the  same  evening.  Balboa 
was  forty-two  years  old  when  thus  untimely  cut  short,  and 


200  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

would  undoubtedly  have  conquered  Peru,  and  administered 
it  to  much  better  advantage  than  Pizarro,  but  for  this  irre- 
mediable mishap.  It  was  seven  years  before  the  adventure 
of  Peru  was  again  undertaken,  and  during  that  interval 
occurred  the  Conquest  of  Mexico.  By  way  of  a  set-off 
against  this  brilliant  feat  of  Cortes,  Pizarro  was  sent  against 
the  Incas.  ^ 

Pizarro  was  the  illegitimate  child  of  an  officer  of  good 
family,  was  wholly  illiterate,  and  began  the  world  as  a  keeper 
of  pigs.  He  first  appears  in  history  as  a  member  of  Ojeda's 
expedition,  was  with  Balboa  when  he  gazed  on  the  Pacific, 
and  later  was  the  agent  of  his  arrest.  He  had  been  con- 
cerned in  some  expeditions  down  the  southwest  coast,  pene- 
trating, perhaps,  as  far  as  the  junction  of  the  Isthmus  with 
the  main  of  South  America.  They  called  this  country  Biru 
or  Peru,  and  thus  did  the  land  of  the  Incas  acquire  its  Span- 
ish title.  It  was  now  designed  to  proceed  further  in  this 
direction.  Matters  were  delayed  however  by  the  despatch 
of  a  new  governor,  Lope  de  Sosa,  to  replace  the  blood- 
encrusted  Pedrarias;  but  this  dreaded  successor  obliged  the 
old  demon  by  dying  just  as  he  came  ashore,  thereby  giving 
Pedrarias  seven  years  more  of  power.  A  southern  ex- 
ploring expedition  had  been  authorized  by  the  Spanish  gov- 
ernment, under  command  of  Gil  Gonzales  Davila,  an  able 
man,  who  accordingly  appeared  in  Acla  and  demanded  the 
ships  which  had  been  built  by  Balboa.  This  was  in  1520, 
the  year  after  Magellan  had  set  out  on  his  epoch-making 
voyage  through  the  Straits.  Pedrarias  refused  to  let  Gil 
Gonzalez  have  the  ships,  who  thereupon  built  a  fleet  for  him 
self.  It  was  destroyed  by  worms  and  weather,  and  he  built 
a  second.  With  these  four  ships  he  started,  as  he  supposed, 
for  the  Moluccas ;  but  instead  he  got  to  the  coast  of  Nicara- 
gua, where  he  found  gold,  and  returned  across  the  Isthmus. 
Evading  Pedrarias,  who  sent  to  arrest  him,  he  got  his  treas- 
ure to  Hispaniola,  and  then  set  out  again.  Meanwhile  Pe- 
drarias had  sent  Hernandez  de  Cordova  to  occupy  Nicara- 
gua, with  De  Soto  as  second  in  command.  They  defeated 


PIZARRO  201 

Gil  Gonzales ;  Cordova  then  threw  off  allegiance  to  Pedrari- 
as,  but  was  by  that  able  sinner  arrested  and  beheaded.  Gil 
Gonzales  died  in  152B  at  Seville.  It  was  now  that  Pizarro, 
with  his  two  allies,  Almagro  and  Luque,  was  despatched  by 
Pedrarias  for  the  Inca  kingdom. 

The  first  essay  brought  him  only  as  far  as  the  Gulf  of 
San  Juan,  just  below  the  fifth  meridian.  The  second,  after 
reaching  San  Juan,  sent  a  couple  of  ships  onward,  and  they 
got  as  far  as  the  equator,  and  saw  Chimborazo.  They 
brought  confirmatory  news  as  to  the  wealth  of  the  Inca 
country.  The  ancient  Pedrarias  died  a  natural  death  in 
1530,  and  was  succeeded  by  Pedro  de  los  Rios,  who  gave 
fresh  supplies  to  Almagro.  Pizarro  then  once  more  started 
south,  and  this  time  landed  on  the  small  island  of  Gallo, 
whence  Almagro  was  again  sent  back  for  supplies.  But 
the  governor  detained  him,  and  sent  a  ship  to  recall  Pizarro. 
He  refused  to  return,  and  sixteen  men  cast  in  their  lot  with 
him.  After  seven  months  Los  Rios  again  sent  a  ship  to  look 
up  the  stubborn  adventurer,  who  had  been  living  meanwhile 
on  snails  and  clams;  but  he  persuaded  Ruiz,  the  pilot,  to 
help  him  explore  the  coast;  and  they  edged  along  as  far 
south  as  Truxillo,  in  latitude  6°  south.  What  they  saw  fully 
confirmed  the  golden  voices  of  rumor.  They  brought  back 
gold,  silver,  and  vicuna  wool,  and  Pizarro  sailed  for  Spain 
to  get  independent  powers  from  the  king.  The  king  en- 
nobled him,  and  made  him  captain-general  and  adelantado, 
with  orders  to  conquer  Peru.  He  returned  with  his  brothers 
and  a  small  but  ardent  following. 

Of  these  brothers  Fernando  was  the  eldest  and  the  only 
legitimate  one;  he  was  also  the  ablest  and  best  educated. 
All  were  brave  soldiers.  Almagro  was  taken  aback  by  this 
irruption  of  so  many  Pizarros,  and  was  not  long  in  recog- 
nizing Fernando  as  his  most  dangerous  rival.  The  feud 
between  these  two  men  was  ended  only  by  Almagro's  death 
011  the  scaffold  seven  or  eight  years  afterward.  The  Pizar- 
ros, with  two  hundred  men  and  fifty  horses,  landed  at  Tum- 
brez,  on  the  south  side  of  the  Gulf  of  Guayaquil,  in  the  last 


202  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH   AMERICA 

month  of  1531.  At  that  time  civil  war  was  distracting  the 
country,  the  contestants  being  the  legitimate  Inca,  Huascar, 
and  his  half-brother  by  a  concubine,  Atahualpa.  The  latter 
overcame  his  antagonist,  massacred  his  family,  and  ascended 
his  throne;  but  kept  Huascar  himself  alive  from  policy.  Just 
at  this  time  came  news  that  a  band  of  miraculous  and  terrific 
strangers  had  landed  on  the  coast.  Atahualpa's  troubles  were 
beginning  early.  He  sent  his  brother  Titu  to  welcome  the 
visitors,  which  Titu  seems  to  have  done  with  a  good  deal  of 
servility,  bowing  before  Pizarro  as  the  representative  of  deity. 
This  reception  gave  the  keynote  to  much  that  followed.  Pi- 
zarro sent  him  back  with  indulgent  words  and  pushed  on  to 
Caxamarca,  an  adobe  and  stone  town  of  two  thousand  inhab- 
itants, with  a  temple  of  the  Sun  and  a  circular,  defensive 
tower.  The  army  of  the  Inca  was  drawn  up,  many  thou- 
sands strong,  on  a  ridge  two  miles  away,  clad  in  the  usual 
armor  of  quilted  cotton.  The  situation  was  very  critical  for 
the  Spaniards.  If  their  merely  human  and  mortal  character 
were  suspected,  they  would  have  short  shrift.  But  they  took 
their  cue  from  the  conduct  of  Cortes  years  before,  and  kept 
a  stiff  front.  They  invited  Atahualpa  to  a  conference.  He 
came  next  day,  strongly  escorted,  to  the  market-place.  A 
single  priest,  Valverde,  came  forward  to  meet  him ;  Pizarro 
was  keeping  the  rest  of  his  force  out  of  sight.  The  priest 
presented  the  Inca  with  a  Bible  and  read  him  a  long  lecture 
on  Christian  theology,  concluding  with  a  command  to  obey 
and  worship  the  Pope.  The  Inca  threw  the  Bible  on  the 
ground,  with  an  expression  of  natural  resentment;  upon 
which  out  rushed  Pizarro  and  his  men,  captured  the  Inca, 
and  slaughtered  the  rest  of  the  party.  The  population,  be- 
lieving this  to  be  an  act  of  the  gods,  offered  no  opposition. 
Atahualpa  was  confined  in  a  room  "twenty-two  feet  in 
length  by  seventeen  in  width"  and  perhaps  eight  or  ten 
feet  high.  Reaching  up  to  the  extent  of  his  arm,  he  made 
a  mark  upon  the  wall,  and  agreed  to  fill  the  room  with  gold 
as  high  as  that  mark,  for  his  ransom.  Pizarro  promptly  ac- 
cepted the  offer,  and  thereupon  the  gold  jars  and  ornaments 


PIZARRO  203 

began  to  pour  in  from  all  quarters.  While  this  was  going  on 
Fernando  Pizarro  with  some  five  and  twenty  companions  rode 
about  the  country,  and  smashed  the  images  of  the  gods  in 
the  temple  of  Pachacamac,  to  the  huge  dismay  of  the  Indians, 
who  concluded  that  he  must  be  a  greater  god  than  any  other. 
Returning  in  the  autumn  of  1533  to  Caxamarca,  he  was  joined 
by  Almagro  with  reinforcements.  By  this  time  there  was  no 
less  than  fifteen  million  dollars'  worth  of  gold  collected  as  ran- 
som, and  this  sum  was  divided  among  the  invaders;  but  Al- 
magro and  his  party  got  much  less  than  the  others.  Fernando 
Pizarro  went  to  Spain  with  the  king's  share.  Meanwhile 
Huascar  offered  the  Spaniards  a  larger  amount  of  gold  than 
Atahualpa  had  given  them,  if  they  would  set  him  free; 
Atahualpa  heard  of  this,  and  procured  Huascar's  murder. 
This  indication  of  the  former's  power  made  the  Spaniards 
suspect  that  he  might  be  able  to  arouse  the  people  against 
them ;  and  it  became  expedient,  in  their  opinion,  to  make  an 
example  of  him.  Though  he  had  bought  his  immunity  at 
the  price  of  fifteen  millions,  and  paid  the  money,  he  was 
brought  to  trial  for  conspiracy,  condemned,  and  sentenced 
to  be  burned  alive;  but,  in  consideration  of  his  adopting 
Christianity,  he  was  indulged  with  a  bowstring  instead. 
This  act  was  unquestionably  bad  in  morals,  but  probably 
sound  in  policy.  If  a  few  hundred  men  are  going  to  con- 
quer a  country  of  many  millions,  the  only  way  to  do  it  is  to 
take  the  high  hand.  The  softer  Christian  virtues  will  not 
aid  them.  By  destroying  the  Inca,  Pizarro  demonstrated 
to  the  multitude  that  he  was  stronger  than  the  Inca;  and  it 
also  happened,  to  his  advantage,  that  this  particular  Inca 
was  an  usurper,  who,  by  a  large  part  of  the  multitude,  was 
thought  to  be  deserving  of  just  what  Pizarro  gave  him.  In 
order  to  emphasize  this  point,  the  shrewd  Pizarro  (though 
in  general  he  was  but  a  brutal  and  rather  stupid  ruffian) 
gave  it  out  that  he  had  been  on  the  brink  of  recalling  the 
fugitive  Huascar  and  reinstating  him  in  his  dignities,  when 
this  ill-conditioned  Atahualpa  had  had  him  killed. 

But  there  must  be  an  Inca  of  some  sort,  to  act  as  Pizarro's 


204  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

puppet ;   and  there  being  no  possible  lack  of  sons  of  Incas, 
one  of  these  was  selected,  a  sickly  boy,  and  propped  up  on 
the  blood-stained  throne,    where  he  died  in  a  few  weeks. 
Here  and  there  throughout  the  country  there  were  disor- 
ders and  rumors  of  disorders;  it  was  uncertain  footing;  one 
knew  not  how  soon  the  illusion  would  vanish,  and  the  Span- 
iards be  discerned  for  the  impudent  cormorants  which  they 
really  were.     The  greater  the  peril,  the  greater  must  be  the 
impudence.     On  a  march  to  Cuzco  five  hundred  Spaniards 
were  attacked  by  six  thousand  Indians,  who  were  beaten 
off ;  but  this  was  the  first  attack  that  the  invaders  had  sus- 
tained, and  in  order  to  intimate  that  they  did  not  wish  to  be 
put  to  the  trouble  of  killing  Peruvians  except  in  the  ordinary 
way  of  massacre,  they  charged  a  certain  chief  who  was  ac- 
companying their  march  with  having  incited  the  attack,  and 
burned  him  at  the  stake  by  way  of  rebuke.     Once  more,  im- 
pudence won.     The  legitimate  successor  of  Huascar,  Manco 
Capac  Yupanqui,  came  to   Pizarro's  camp  and  did  homage 
to  the  vulgar,  intrepid  adventurer.     It  was  a  timely  act; 
Pizarro  took  him  under  protection,  brought  him  ceremoni- 
ously into  Cuzco,  and  there  placed  him  upon  that  shaky  and 
gory  throne  with  all  the  honors.     It  was  November  15,  1533, 
just  a  year  since    Pizarro's  entry  into  Caxamarca.     When 
one  considers  the  astonishing  and  quite  unparalleled  fortune 
which  these  bearded  interlopers  had  met  with  during  those 
twelve  months,  one  seems  to  be  reading  an  Arabian  fairy- 
tale.    But  it  is  pathetic  to  reflect  that  it  was  religious  rever- 
ence, sorely  misguided,  which  led  the  unhappy  Peruvians  into 
these  desperate  scrapes.     Such  reverence  is  a  most  amiable 
and  commendable   quality;    yet,    perhaps,   a  people  whose 
ideas  of  deity  were  so  unsettled  that  they  had  become  capa- 
ble of  believing  that  Spaniards  could  be  gods,  deserved  no 
less  than  they  got. — Pizarro,  presuming  upon  his  success, 
established  a  municipal  government  in  Cuzco,   and  made 
over  the  Temple  of  the  Sun  into  a  Dominican  monastery. 
A  supporter  of  the  extinct  Atahualpa  having  the  effrontery 
to  raise  a  standard  of  rebellion  on  the  Quito  border,  Almagro 


PIZARRO  205 

was  sent  against  him  and  extinguished  him  likewise.  Anon, 
our  old  friend  Alvarado  of  Mexico  and  Guatemala,  to  whom 
report  had  come  of  the  golden  riot  going  on  in  the  south, 
marched  thither  with  five  hundred  men,  losing  over  a  hun- 
dred men  on  the  way.  When  at  last  he  met  Almagro,  his 
own  followers  showed  symptoms  of  mutiny  and  desertion; 
so  that  Alvarado,  who  had  acquired  prudence  with  years, 
made  up  his  mind  to  be  bought  off,  instead  of  pressing  his 
enterprise  further.  He  was  paid  a  sum  of  gold  in  considera- 
tion of  his  quitting  the  premises,  and  so  returned  to  Guate- 
mala not  much  better  off,  upon  the  whole,  than  he  would 
have  been  had  he  stayed  at  home.  The  greater  part  of  his 
men  remained  in  Peru.  Gold  is  a  beautiful  and  useful  creat- 
ure, while  men  keep  the  upper  hand  of  it;  but  when  it  gets 
the  upper  hand  of  men,  it  robs  them  of  every  quality  which 
makes  manhood  honorable. 

While  Francisco  Pizarro  and  his  lieutenants  had  been  cut- 
ting these  broad  swaths  in  the  new  country,  the  authorities 
in  Spain  had  been  arranging  the  titles  and  possessions  of  the 
conquerors :  Francisco  was  now  a  marquis ;  Almagro  a  mar- 
shal ;  the  former  was  to  have  a  territory  running  south  from 
Santiago  River  some  eight  hundred  miles;  Almagro's  do- 
main began  where  Pizarro's  left  off,  and  continued  south- 
ward indefinitely;  the  trouble  with  it  was,  it  had  not  yet 
been  reduced  to  subjection.  New  Castile,  and  New  Toledo, 
were  the  names  given,  respectively,  to  these  great  principali- 
ties. Almagro  was  none  too  well  pleased.  For  aught  he 
knew,  or  that  any  one  could  tell  him,  his  New  Toledo  might 
turn  out,  after  he  had  conquered  it,  to  contain  no  gold  at 
all ;  it  was  fairly  certain  to  contain  a  good  many  people  who 
would  oppose  his  authority,  and  cause  him  a  great  deal  of 
annoyance,  if  nothing  worse.  And  why  should  these  Pi- 
zarros  have  all  the  pickings,  when  he,  who  had  labored  as 
hard  as  they,  was  waved  off  to  the  unknown  south  in  this 
airy  fashion?  Who  were  the  Pizarros  but  a  parcel  of  scurvy 
bastards,  who  should  be  in  the  stocks,  or  broiling  at  the 
stake,  if  justice  were  done?  Emphatically  disgruntled  was 


206  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

Almagro,  and  nearly  ripe  for  mischief.  His  claim  that 
Cuzco  lay  within  his  boundary  was  disallowed,  and  when 
at  last  he  disappeared  into  the  wilds  of  Chili  with  his  two 
hundred  men,  it  was  with  the  half-formed  purpose  in  his 
mind  to  come  back  and  make  it  hot  for  the  Pizarros,  unless 
Chili  turned  out  much  better  than  he  feared. 

By  this  time  Fernando  Pizarro  was  back  from  Spain ;  and 
in  his  wake  was  a  great  and  ever-increasing  number  of  gold- 
hungry  and  more  or  less  worthless  Spaniards,  eager  for  pick- 
ings.    Lima  was  founded  in  1525,  ships  plied  to  and  fro,  and 
the  work  of  settlement  went  on,  while  natives,  pushed  to  the 
wall  and  disregarded,  tried  to  look  pleasant  and  think  that 
it  was  all  as  it  should  be.     But*  the  time  could  not  be  much 
longer  delayed  when  the  true  character  of  the  invaders  would 
be  recognized,  and  that  preposterous  bubble  of  divine  author- 
ity be  pricked.     The  Spanish  recognized  this,  and  their  policy 
was  to  intrench  themselves  as  firmly  as  possible  before  the 
eruption  took  place.     But  the  departure  of  Almagro  for  the 
south  weakened  the  forces  in  Peru,  and  the  Peruvians  could 
not  help  perceiving  that  here  was  an  opportunity  to  test  what 
their  uninvited  guests  were  really  made  of.     The  Inca  had 
no  doubt  laid  his  plans  carefully  beforehand.     He  escaped 
from  Cuzco,  and  joined  himself  with  his  people;  as  if  at  a 
signal,  the  rebellion — if  rebellion  is  a  right  name  to  apply  to 
the  concerted  effort  of  a  nation  to  gain  possession  of  their 
own  country — broke  out  on  all  sides  like  the  crash  of  a  thun- 
derstorm.    Each  body  of  Spaniards,  in  different  parts  of  the 
country,  was  cut  off  from  the  rest,  and  had  to  trust  to  its 
imagination   as   to   what   might  be   happening    elsewhere. 
Dread  fell  upon  them,  and  they  set  up  a  wail  for  succor 
from  the  north.     Fernando  was  in  Cuzco,  but  the  Inca  held 
the  great  fortress  of  Sacsahuaman  which  commanded  the 
town,  and  laid  strict  siege  to  the  latter.     The  firearms  of 
the  Spaniards  gave  them  a  great  advantage,  in  spite  of  their 
small  numbers;   a  few  pieces  of  artillery  would  have  been 
worth  the  world  to  the  Inca.     For  six  months  the  struggle 
continued,  with  no  decisive   success  on  either  side;   there 


PIZARRO  207 

were  many  stirring  combats  which  are  duly  chronicled  in 
the  books;  and  we  may  be  sure  that  the  Spaniards  have 
been  given,  by  their  historians,  quite  as  much  credit  for 
valor  as  is  their  due.  We  have  seen,  in  very  recent  times, 
what  relation  exists  between  the  things  that  happen  in  a 
war  in  which  they  take  part,  and  their  report  of  the  same. 
Making  all  proper  deductions,  however,  we  may  still  believe 
that  they  fought  with  desperate  courage;  not  a  few  of  them 
were  slain,  including  one  of  the  redundant  Pizarro  brothers ; 
but  every  Spanish  life  was  sold  for  ten  or  twenty  times  its 
value  in  the  lives  of  Indians.  At  length  the  autumn  came, 
and  with  it  the  necessity,  for  the  major  part  of  the  Inca's 
army,  to  go  home  and  attend  to  their  crops ;  else  there  was 
a  famine  in  prospect.  Meanwhile,  with  the  remnant,  the 
Inca  fell  back  to  the  Yucay  Valley,  where  he  met  with  a 
fatal  misfortune. 

Almagro  had  marched  three  hundred  miles  down  into 
Chili,  and  had  found  it  a  very  disappointing  place.  His 
worst  fears  were  confirmed.  The  climate  was  cold  and  try- 
ing, and  the  golden  cities  were  conspicuous  by  their  absence. 
To  be  immersed  in  a  region  where  no  pillage  was  to  be  had 
was  intolerable  to  the  Spanish  spirit,  and  the  discontent  of 
the  army  rose  to  such  a  pitch  that  Almagro  could  not  have 
disregarded  it,  even  had  he  not  shared  it  himself.  "Let  us 
go  back  to  Cuzco,"  said  they,  "and  give  those  Pizarros  good 
cause  for  admitting  that  it  is  our  city  after  all."  They  faced 
about,  accordingly,  and  marched  northward  once  more;  and 
in  due  season  arrived  at  a  place  where  they  found  the  Inca 
with  his  army,  depleted  as  aforesaid,  drawn  up  to  receive 
them.  A  battle  took  place,  and  the  Inca  was  overthrown, 
and  his  men  were  slaughtered  by  thousands.  Encouraged 
by  this  success,  Almagro  proceeded  onward  to  Cuzco,  and 
made  his  demand  for  control  of  it.  But  Fernando  Pizarro 
had  not  stood  a  siege  for  six  months,  for  the  sake  of  handing 
over  his  hardly-preserved  stronghold  to  an  unruly  claimant 
from  the  wilds  of  Chili  at  last ;  and  he  told  Almagro  that 
he  must  stay  where  he  was.  Almagro  insisted  that  the  city 


208  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

was  his  by  reason  of  the  established  boundary;  this  Pizarro 
disputed;  and  it  was  finally  agreed  that  Almagro  should 
remain  outside  until  the  question  could  be  settled  by  au- 
thority. Almagro  went  into  camp  therefore,  though  with 
no  good  grace;  and  when,  in  the  ensuing  spring,  he  discov- 
ered that  Pizarro  was  secretly  strengthening  the  fortifications 
against  him,  his  patience  gave  out  altogether.  He  watched 
his  opportunity,  caught  the  guards  napping,  entered  the  city 
by  surprise,  and  took  Fernando  Pizarro  and  his  brother  Gon- 
zalo  prisoners. 

Had  he  cut  off  the  heads  of  both  of  these  gentlemen  on 
the  spot,  he  would  have  saved  himself  years  of  struggle,  with 
a  death  on  the  scaffold  at  the  end  of  them.  But  he  was  not 
of  the  right  fibre  for  the  work  that  was  laid  upon  him.  He 
was  not  what  the  English  would  call  "thorough" ;  he  hacked 
and  foined,  instead  of  fetching  a  good  backhand  stroke  and 
making  an  end  of  it.  Civil  disturbances  went  on  for  eleven 
years,  "in  the  course  of  which,"  as  Professor  Fiske  remarks, 
"all  the  principal  actors  were  swept  off  the  stage,  as  in  some 
cheap  blood-and-thunder  tragedy.  It  is  not  worth  while  to 
recount  the  petty  incidents  of  the  struggle:  how  Almagro 
was  at  one  moment  ready  to  submit  to  arbitration,  and  the 
next  moment  refused  to  abide  by  the  decision ;  how  Fernando 
was  set  at  liberty  and  Gonzalo  escaped;  how  Almagro's  able 
lieutenant,  Rodrigo  de  Orgonez,  won  a  victory  over  Pizarro's 
men  at  Abangay,  but  was  totally  defeated  by  Fernando 
Pizarro  at  Las  Salinas  and  perished  on  the  field;  how  at 
last  Fernando  had  Almagro  tried  for  sedition  and  summarily 
executed.  On  which  side  was  the  more  violence  and  treach- 
ery it  would  be  hard  to  say.  Indeed,  as  Sir  Arthur  Helps 
observes,  'in  this  melancholy  story  it  is  difficult  to  find  any- 
body whom  the  reader  can  sympathize  much  with.'  After 
his  victory  at  Abangay,  Orgonez  completed  the  overthrow 
of  the  Inca  Manco,  scattered  his  army,  and  drove  him  to 
an  inaccessible  fastness  of  the  mountains." 

After    Almagro's    execution    in    July,    1538,    Fernando 
thought  it  expedient  to  go  to  Spain  and  explain  himself  j 


PIZARRO  209 

but  a  friend  of  Almagro's  had  got  there  before  him,  and 
Fernando,  let  him  explain  himself  never  so  nimbly,  could 
get  nothing  better  than  a  "surveillance"  at  Medina  del 
Campo,  which  lasted  no  less  than  twenty  years,  during 
which  time  the  only  memorable  thing  he  did  was  to  marry 
his  own  bastard  niece  (daughter  of  his  brother  Francisco). 
Being  relieved  from  his  confinement  in  1560,  he  repaired  to 
his  estate  in  Estramadura,  where  he  was  born,  and  fourteen 
years  later  he  died  there,  as  it  was  high  time  he  should,  for 
he  was  one  hundred  and  four  years  old.  Old  age  and  wealth 
are  two  things  which  are  seldom  bestowed  by  Providence 
where,  according  to  our  conception  of  morality  and  utility, 
we  should  expect.  The  only  conclusion  seems  to  be  that 
Providence  does  not  attach  so  much  importance  to  these  two 
things  as  we  do.  Keats  died  in  his  twenties ;  Shakespeare 
but  just  past  fifty;  Alexander  in  his  boyhood;  but  Pizarro 
lived  four  years  more  than  a  century.  As  for  the  enjoyers 
of  ill-gotten  wealth — circumspice! 

Francisco  Pizarro  continued  to  order  things  in  Peru, 
which  was  now  pretty  nearly  hi  subjection;  though  the 
Inca  still  had  his  abode  in  the  mountains,  and  made  occa- 
sional incursions,  which  the  Spaniards  did  not  have  great 
difficulty  in  repulsing.  The  roads  which  the  Incas  had 
made  did  excellent  service  for  the  invaders,  who  were  able 
to  maintain  communications  with  all  parts  of  the  country. 
The  Marquis  amused  himself  with  market  gardening,  and 
succeeded  in  acclimatizing  various  European  vegetables  in 
his  new  dominions.  But  while  he  was  thus  innocently 
engaged,  his  enemies,  who  were  the  adherents  of  the  late 
Ahnagro,  were  laying  plots  against  him.  The  Marquis, 
whenever  he  noticed  them  at  all,  behaved  with  such  plen- 
tiful lack  of  tact  and  courtesy  as  to  keep  alive  the  flame  of 
their  hatred,  if  it  were  in  any  danger  of  dying  out.  Finally, 
in  June,  1541,  a  number  of  cavaliers  who  had  been  very 
cavalierly  treated  by  Pizarro,  made  up  their  minds  to  kill 
him.  The  affair  occurred  in  Lima,  just  after  the  Marquis 
had  finished  dinner.  One  Juan  de  Rada  led  the  conspira- 


210  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

tors,  of  whom  there  were  in  all  nineteen ;  but  one  of  them, 
Gomez  Perez  by  name,  as  the  party  were  crossing  the  great 
square  of  the  city,  stepped  aside  to  avoid  a  puddle  that  lay 
in  his  path.  Rada,  whose  soul  was  bent  on  direful  deeds, 
happened  to  notice  this,  and  it  seemed  to  him  to  harmonize 
so  ill  with  the  business  on  which  they  were  bound,  that  he 
became  angry.  "What!  here  are  we  about  to  wade  knee- 
deep  in  blood,  and  you  hop  to  save  your  shoes  from  a  pud- 
dle! Imbecile  dandy!  go  home:  you  are  no  comrade  for 
men!"  Gomez  Perez  may  or  may  not  have  been  a  handy 
man  with  his  rapier;  at  all  events,  the  assassins  managed 
their  job  without  him.  They  attacked  Pizarro  with  great 
fury;  and  his  defence  was  highly  creditable;  but  the  odds 
were  too  great,  and  they  stabbed  both  him  and  a  half-brother 
of  his  named  Alcantara,  and  a  few  chance  adherents  of  theirs 
into  the  bargain.  Having  thus  overthrown  the  reigning  dy- 
nasty, the  next  step  was  to  found  a  new  one.  Almagro  had 
begotten  an  illegitimate  son  by  a  connection  with  an  Indian 
woman;  he  was  known  as  Almagro  the  Lad,  and  this  prom- 
ising youth  was  forthwith  named  governor  of  Peru.  Mean- 
while, as  luck  would  have  it,  Charles  V.  had  sent  Vaca  de 
Castro  to  Peru,  to  take  counsel  with  the  Marquis  as  to  the 
administration  of  the  province;  and,  being  by  long  experi- 
ence familiar  with  the  ways  of  his  subjects,  especially  of 
those  who  adventured  in  foreign  parts,  his  majesty  bade  his 
emissary,  in  case  anything  should  have  happened  to  Pizarro, 
to  assume  the  reins  of  government  himself.  The  first  thing 
De  Castro  learned  on  disembarking  was  that  something  had 
happened  to  Pizarro,  sure  enough;  whereby,  ipso  facto,  he, 
De  Castro,  became  governor.  Making  due  inquiry,  he  further 
learned  that  there  were  plenty  of  Pizarro  men  in  the  coun- 
try. He  therefore  proclaimed  his  succession;  marched  to 
meet  the  foredoomed  Almagro,  and  in  the  battle  of  Chupas, 
in  September,  1542,  defeated  and  captured  him,  and  cele- 
brated his  victory  by  conducting  the  young  man  to  the 
public  square  of  Cuzco,  and  there  cutting  off  his  head. 
Brother  Gonzalo  Pizarro  was  still  in  the  flesh,  and  in 


PIZARRO  211 

Peru;  but  instead  of  stirring  up  a  revolt  against  the  new 
governor,  he  gave  in  his  adherence  to  him,  and  then  wisely 
retired  to  his  private  estate  in  Charcas,  near  Lake  Titicaca. 
It  was  at  just  about  this  time,  however,  that  Las  Casas  had 
succeeded  in  getting  passed  his  laws  for  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  South  America ;  and  these  laws  demanded  imme- 
diate abolition.  The  execution  of  them  would  have  worked 
prompt  disaster  to  every  Spaniard  in  the  province,  for  all  of 
them  depended  upon  the  labor  of  their  slaves.  Las  Casas, 
as  we  have  seen,  did  not  come  out  to  enforce  the  laws  in 
person ;  and  the  opposition  they  aroused  was  universal  and 
violent.  A  wise  diplomatist  might,  nevertheless,  have  made 
headway,  in  time;  but  no  such  person  was  provided.  On 
the  contrary,  the  king  sent  out  a  man  specially  unfitted 
for  the  work;  one  Blasco  Nunez  Vela,  who  appeared  in 
1544,  with  the  rank  of  viceroy,  and  set  to  work  with  head- 
long zeal  to  carry  out  his  orders  by  all  means  fair  or  foul. 
Naturally,  the  foul  means  were  those  which  he  most  inclined 
to  employ;  he  imprisoned  all  and  sundry  right  and  left;  and 
that  measure  not  seeming  drastic  enough,  he  murdered  rather 
than  executed  any  person  who  crossed  his  path.  In  fact,  in- 
dulgent historians  intimate  that  perhaps  this  Vela  was  hardly 
in  his  right  mind;  at  all  events  he  does  not  seem  to  have 
fully  realized  that,  if  killing  was  the  word,  there  were  gen- 
tlemen in  Peru  who  were  as  conversant  with  its  meaning 
as  himself.  In  short,  the  resident  Spaniards  revolted,  and 
called  brother  Gonzalo  out  of  his  retirement  to  lead  them. 
Out  he  came ;  and  after  a  year  of  skirmishing,  with  nothing 
decisive  done  by  either  party,  the  opposing  forces  met  near 
Quito,  and  down  went  Vela  with  a  crash,  and  was  then  and 
there  slain.  Thus  did  the  force  of  circumstance  once  more 
raise  a  Pizarro  to  the  governorship  of  Peru.  King  Charles, 
however,  was  not  the  man  to  sit  quietly  while  his  authorized 
representative  was  done  away  with;  and  he  sent  out,  this 
time,  a  real  diplomatist,  with  a  tongue  capable  of  making 
the  worse  appear  the  better  reason,  and  of  winning  support- 
ers f.rom  the  ranks  of  the  enemy.  He  was  an  ecclesiastic, 
—  10 


212  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

and  his  name  was  Pedro  de  la  Gasca.  He  was  endowed 
with  official  powers;  but  chiefly  with  brains,  and  with  the 
tongue  aforesaid.  His  first  step  was  to  repeal  such  parts 
of  the  abolition  laws  as  bore  hardest  upon  the  colonists ;  and 
thereby  he  won  their  favor.  No  until  after  these  good  news 
had  been  promulgated  did  Gasca  venture  to  leave  Panama 
for  Peru.  The  captains  of  Pizarro's  fleet  had  been  de- 
spatched to  Panama  to  meet  and  watch  the  new  emissary, 
and  either  stop  him  or  bribe  him,  as  might  seem  most  expe- 
dient. But  allowance  had  not  been  made  for  that  tongue. 
Gasca  wagged  it  to  such  good  effect  that  Pizarro's  captains 
began  to  feel  that  perhaps  they  were  not  Pizarro's  cap- 
tains after  all;  at  all  events,  they  put  their  fleet  at  his 
disposal,  and  to  Peru  he  came,  landing  at  Tumbrez  in  June, 
1547.  Now  was  the  time  for  Pizarro  to  declare  that  he  had 
no  intention  of  resisting  his  sovereign,  but  had  only  opposed 
Vela  in  the  interests  of  order  and  decency.  But  this  Pizarro 
was  tarred  with  the  same  brush  as  his  brethren ;  he  liked  to 
shed  blood,  thought  he  had  a  particular  talent  in  that  direc- 
tion, and  was  confident  that  he  could  show  this  sly  priest 
some  things  in  the  way  of  war  which  would  more  than 
counterbalance  his  gift  of  the  gab.  In  short,  he  was  brutal 
and  unintelligent;  and  his  doom  was  sealed  by  his  first  oper- 
ations, which  were  successful.  Captain  Diego  de  Centeno, 
acting  for  Gasca,  captured  Cuzco ;  but  was  defeated  in  the 
battle  of  Huarina.  Hereupon  Pizarro  pressed  on,  nothing 
doubting;  and  indeed  one  can  hardly  blame  him  for  his  con- 
fidence, since  it  lay  not  in  human  foresight  to  anticipate  the 
magical  seductiveness  of  this  Gasca's  conversation.  The 
armies  met;  but  Gasca  did  but  open  his  mouth,  and  Pizar- 
ro's soldiers  began  deserting  by  troops.  The  thing  was  in- 
explicable; it  was  uncanny.  "We  would  call  him  a  magnetic 
man,  nowadays;  and  Pizarro's  men  were  the  iron  filings. 
Even  those  who  stayed  by  him  could  not  be  induced  to 
fight;  by  great  efforts  fifteen  men  contrived  to  get  slain; 
and  then  Pizarro,  losing  patience,  got  on  his  horse,  rode 
over  to  Gasca's  camp,  and  gave  himself  up.  Gasca  showed 


BOGOTA,  COLOMBIA  (From  a  photograph) 


THE  PAMPAS  IN  THE  ARGENTINE  REPUBLIC 


Sfanish  America. 


PIZAERO  213 

that  he  was  a  worthy  successor  of  Spain's  rulers  in  America. 
He  took  off  Pizarro's  head  the  next  morning;  but  there  was 
among  the  latter 's  adherents  a  veteran  officer  who  had  fought 
in  Italy,  and  was  then  eighty-five  years  old.  He  had  noth- 
ing particular  to  do  with  the  rebellion;  but  there  he  was, 
with  his  white  hair  and  beard,  and  the  scars  of  his  honora- 
ole  old  wounds.  A  capital  subject  for  sport  therefore.  And 
the  eloquent  ecclesiastic  issued  the  orders  with  that  honeyed 
tongue,  and  looked  on  while  the  aged  warrior  was  hanged 
and  quartered.  A  quaint  ending  for  a  martial  career  of  five 
and  eighty  years!  This  event  occurred  in  1548;  the  ingen- 
ious Gasca  lingered  yet  two  years  in  the  New  World,  plying 
the  noose  and  the  axe  with  unction;  and  then  returned  to 
his  own  country,  where  he  received  the  mitre  of  a  bishop. 
Another  rebel  arose  after  his  departure,  and  was  in  his  turn 
defeated  and  decapitated;  and  finally,  in  1556,  the  Marquis 
of  Canete  held  in  complete  subjection  both  the  Indians  and 
the  Spaniards,  and  there  reigned  the  kind  of  peace  that 
Spain  has  made  her  own.  The  Conquest  of  Peru  was 
finished. 

The  Inca  whom  Pizarro  had  defeated  and  made  a  fugi- 
tive was  killed  in  a  brawl  by  the  same  Gomez  Perez  who 
had  avoided  the  puddle — who  was  in  his  turn  immediately 
slain  by  the  bystanding  Indians.  His  successor  was  his  son, 
Sari  Tupac,  but  when  the  Marquis  Canete  came,  this  sover- 
eign without  sovereignty  was  induced  to  abandon  his  fast- 
nesses among  the  mountains,  and  his  vain  posture  of  hostil- 
ity, and  accept  an  amicable  asylum  in  the  valley  of  Yucay. 
On  his  death,  in  1560,  his  brother  Titu  Cusi  Yupanqui  re- 
verted to  the  mountains,  where  he  held  out  for  eleven  years. 
He  was  poisoned  by  a  Spanish  monk,  who  was  killed  for 
"sorcery,"  and  avenged  by  the  Viceroy  Francisco  de  Toledo, 
who  slaughtered  or  dispersed  the  highland  army,  captured 
the  new  Inca  Tupac  Amaru,  and  beheaded  him  in  Cuzco. 
There  were  no  more  Incas. 

But  while  Peru  was  thus  settling  down  into  the  pleasant 
ways  of  peace,  there  had  been  interesting  events  in  northern 


214  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

and  eastern  South  America,  to  which  some  attention  must 
now  be  given. 

"Whatever  may  be  our  animadversions  against  the  Span- 
iards on  the  score  of  their  greed  for  gold,  there  is  no  denying 
that  it  prompted  them,  as  nothing  else  in  the  world  could 
have  done,  to  pursue  the  work  of  exploration,  and  to  make 
the  New  World  known  with  a  rapidity  which  could  never 
have  been  rivalled  by  mere  geographers  and  ethnologists. 
Before  the  eyes  of  all  the  Spanish  adventurers  there  hovered 
forever  the  vision  of  some  absolutely  golden  country,  where 
the  precious  metal  was  the  veriest  dross,  and  where  every 
one  might  become  rich  beyond  avarice's  dreams  by  simply 
stretching  out  his  hand  and  taking.  In  quest  of  this  vision 
they  underwent  labors  and  braved  perils  and  sufferings 
which  would  have  been  heroic  in  any  other  cause,  and 
which  incidentally  afforded  excellent  material  for  innu- 
merable subsequent  romancers.  The  success  with  which 
they  were  rewarded  in  Mexico,  and  still  more  in  Peru,  only 
made  them  imagine  some  yet  more  enormous  rewards;  and 
they  kept  up  the  desperate  hunt  until  the  illusion  died  a 
natural  death.  Their  prolonged  strugglings  amid  the  pri- 
meval wilderness,  deadly  with  fevers,  with  intolerable  heats, 
with  starvation  and  thirst,  and  with  stealthy  savages,  afford 
a  singular  spectacle;  not  a  cheerful  one  certainly,  yet  not 
devoid  of  a  certain  fascination.  Gold  did  they  get,  and  also 
often  failed  to  get;  blood  they  shed  at  all  times;  on  their 
first  approach  they  were  often  welcomed  as  gods;  but  ere 
they  had  remained  long,  they  were  invariably  hated  as 
devils.  Such  were  their  nature  and  their  destiny.  For 
what  sins  of  the  American  aborigines  the  Spanish  scourge 
was  let  loose  upon  them  we  can  only  conjecture;  in  the  case 
of  the  Aztecs  we  may  surmise,  with  the  moralizers,  that  it 
was  in  punishment  of  their  reprehensible  practice  of  sacrific- 
ing and  eating  their  fellow  creatures;  though  there  are  to 
this  day  many  thriving  cannibals  in  the  South  Sea  and  else- 
where, who  ought  to  have  been  punished  at  the  same  time. 
The  scourge  had  to  come;  the  curse  had  to  fall,  and  endure 


PIZARRO  215 

its  time ;  and  only  to-day  is  it  passing  forever  away.  Let  us 
hope  that  the  history  of  it  may  admonish  us  to  shun  what- 
ever may  cause  us  to  be  remembered  as  are  the  Spaniards. 
New  Granada  was  the  name  given  to  that  region  of  South 
America  which  is  now  called  Colombia  (though  at  first  it 
was  restricted  to  the  country  round  the  mountain  town 
of  Bogota) ;  Venezuela  was  a  vague  term  for  a  coast,  and 
an  unknown  stretch  of  land  back  of  it,  roughly  identical 
with  what  is  now  represented  by  the  same  name ;  it  was  dis- 
covered, as  we  know,  by  Columbus  in  1498.  The  Spaniards 
did  not  at  first  make  much  of  it ;  they  landed  on  its  coasts 
for  gold  and  slaves,  and  in  this  way  irritated  the  inhabitants, 
and  made  them  dangerous  to  meddle  with.  But  there  was 
gold  there ;  and  the  Spaniards  continued  to  make  attempts 
to  get  it.  The  forests  were  dense  and  the  arrows  poisoned, 
and  they  could  make  little  headway.  Santa  Marta  was 
founded  in  1525,  on  the  north  coast.  Quarrels  arose  among 
the  rival  adventurers,  and  Charles  V.  appointed  a  governor, 
Garcia  de  Lerma.  At  the  same  time  he  leased  the  ambig- 
uous Venezuela  to  the  house  of  Welser.  Bartolomaus  Wel- 
ser,  the  founder  of  this  famous  firm  of  German  bankers  and 
commercial  agents,  who  were  the  Rothschilds  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  had  established  claims  upon  the  Spanish 
government  by  lending  the  king  large  sums  of  money;  Wel- 
ser had  been  created  a  Prince  of  the  Empire,  but  he  was  a 
business  man,  and  desired  rewards  more  concrete.  Upon 
receiving  the  grant,  Dalfinger  and  Seyler,  representing  the 
firm,  landed  at  Coro,  on  the  north  coast,  east  of  Lake  Mara- 
caibo,  where  they  heard  a  story  about  a  chief  somewhere 
in  the  interior  of  the  country  whose  title  was  El  Dorado, 
because  he  covered  his  whole  body  with  powdered  gold ;  and 
it  was  further  said  that  gold  was  common  as  dirt  in  that 
country.  This  story,  unlike  some  others  of  that  age,  was 
founded  on  fact;  there  really  was  a  chief  up  hi  the  moun- 
tains who,  on  certain  ceremonial  occasions,  dusted  himself 
over  with  gold.  The  habitat  of  the  tribe  of  El  Dorado  was  in 
the  table-iaud  of  Bogota,  in  the  province  of  Cundinamarca, 


216  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

in  New  Granada.  Manifestly,  this  was  a  matter  into  which 
it  concerned  Messrs.  Dalfinger  and  Seyler  to  look  without 
undue  delay. 

Of  Bogota,  Humboldt  says,  "this  table-land  has  some 
similarity  to  the  plateau  that  encloses  the  Mexican  lakes; 
both  lie  higher  than  the  convent  of  St.  Bernard.  Bogota 
is  surrounded  by  high  mountains,  while  the  perfect  evenness 
of  the  level,  the  geological  constitution  of  the  ground,  and  the 
form  of  the  rocks  which  rise  like  islands  from  the  midst  of 
the  savannas,  all  suggest  a  former  lake-basin.  The  Rio  de 
Bogota  has  forced  a  channel  through  the  mountains  south- 
west of  Santa  Fe.  It  issues  from  the  valley  of  the  estate 
of  Tequendama,  falling  into  a  narrow  canon  which  descends 
to  the  valley  of  the  Magdalena.  If  this  opening,  the  only 
outlet  the  valley  of  Bogota  has,  were  closed,  the  fertile  plain 
would  be  converted  into  a  lake  like  that  of  the  Mexican 
plateau." 

On  this  temperate  plateau  lived  the  Muysca  Indians. 
They  were  isolated ;  their  pursuit  was  agriculture ;  the  tribes 
outside  their  mountain  walls  were  cannibals.  All  the  tribes 
were  in  constant  warfare  with  one  another.  The  Muysca 
wove  cotton,  and  picked  up  emeralds ;  in  spite  of  the  war- 
fare they  maintained  a  lively  trade,  in  the  course  of  which 
an  immense  amount  of  gold  got  into  the  country;  for  the 
Muysca  had  no  gold  of  their  own,  whereas  the  surrounding 
tribes  possessed  it  in  superfluity.  The  Muysca  used  it  for 
ornament,  and  fashioned  it  into  all  manner  of  tasteful  shapes. 

They  dwelt  in  houses  of  wood  and  straw,  and  made  tem- 
ples with  pillars  of  stone.  Their  tools  and  weapons  were  of 
stone,  and  they  made  bronze  vessels.  They  were  a  military 
democracy.  The  chief  was  the  executive,  and  the  elders 
served  him  as  council.  Their  religion  did  not  markedly 
differ  from  that  of  other  tribes  in  like  grade  of  culture. 
They  had  a  worship  of  fetiches — striking  natural  objects; 
their  lakes  were  accounted  holy,  and  they  offered  homage 
to  the  deities  supposed  to  inhabit  them  by  the  simple  rite 
of  throwing  emeralds  and  gold  into  the  water.  The  lake 


PIZARRO  217 

where  the  most  notable  and  generous  of  these  offerings  were 
made  was  the  lake  of  Guatavita,  and  it  was  here  that  the 
tale  of  El  Dorado  had  its  source.  It  lies  north  of  Santa  Fe, 
about  two  miles  above  sea-level,  on  the  apex  of  a  symmetrical 
cone ;  it  is  about  three  miles  in  circumference,  and  a  hundred 
feet  deep.  It  has  a  bottom  of  fine  sand.  Near  the  lake  was 
the  village  of  Guatavita,  the  inhabitants  of  which  were,  in 
1490,  an  independent  tribe.  They  had  a  legend  to  the  effect 
that  the  goddess  of  the  lake  had  been  the  wife  of  a  former 
chief,  who  had  thrown  herself  into  the  lake  to  escape  a  whip- 
ping, and,  like  the  maidens  of  Greek  mythology,  had  been 
made  one  of  the  Immortals.  Her  cult  was  popular,  and 
extended  even  beyond  the  borders  of  the  tribe.  Pilgrims 
came  from  afar  to  add  their  offering  of  gold  and  emeralds 
to  the  divinity.  At  every  new  installation  of  a  chief,  there 
was  an  imposing  ceremony ;  first  marched  a  squad  of  naked 
men  painted  with  red  ochre,  as  mourners ;  then  men  adorned 
with  gold  and  emeralds,  with  feather  headdresses ;  and  war- 
riors in  jaguar  skins ;  these  shouted  and  made  an  uproar  on 
horns,  pipes  and  conch  shells.  Black-robed  priests  accom- 
panied the  procession,  with  white  crosses  on  their  breasts; 
and  in  the  rear  came  the  nobles  bearing  the  new  chief  on  a 
barrow  hung  with  gold  disks.  He  was  naked,  his  body  ren- 
dered sticky  with  resinous  gums,  and  then  smeared  over  with 
gold  dust.  Having  reached  the  shore  of  the  lake,  he  got  on 
a  barge  and  was  ferried  to  the  centre,  where  he  dived  into 
the  water,  and  washed  off  his  gold,  while  the  assemblage 
on  the  shore  shouted  in  joy,  and  flung  their  offerings  into 
the  transparent  abode  of  the  goddess.  After  which  the  pro- 
cession returned  as  it  came,  and  finished  the  day  with  eating, 
drinking  and  dancing,  as  is  the  wont  of  mankind  of  all  races 
under  cognate  circumstances.  Such  was  El  Dorado;  a  very 
pretty  and  picturesque  matter;  but  the  fame  of  it  got  from 
that  remote  and  well- protected  table-land  to  the  Spaniards 
and  German  Jews  on  the  coast,  and  thence  spread  all  over 
the  civilized  world;  and  caused  many  persons  a  great  deal 
of  exertion,  anxiety,  evil  passions,  injury,  and  death.  As 


218  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA. 

we  look  upon  it  now,  the  game  was  obviously  not  worth  the 
candle;  but  it  lay  with  the  Spaniards  and  the  German  Jews 
to  prove  just  how  much  it  was  worth ;  and  their  efforts  are 
worth  reviewing. 

Dalfinger,  the  German  governor,  started  after  El  Dorado 
from  Coro  in  July,  1529.  He  crossed  the  Gulf  of  Venezuela, 
and  was  then  beyond  the  confines  of  his  province  of  Vene- 
zuela ;  but  he  was  not  aware  of  this,  nor  was  there  any  one 
to  inform  him  of  it ;  for  no  white  man  had  ever  before  been  in 
this  region.  It  was  not  a  region  which  white  men  would 
seek  from  mere  preference.  It  was  terribly  hot  and  un- 
wholesome; the  forest  was  a  thick  intertwinement  of  trunks, 
branches,  vines  and  parasites;  underfoot  there  were  some- 
tunes  oozy  swamps,  and  sometimes  puzzling  hills.  It  was 
inhabited  by  savages  of  a  low  but  fierce  sort ;  but  they  had 
gold,  and  they  could  be  used  as  slaves;  and  Dalfinger,  who 
was  a  soldier  of  a  rather  more  barbarous  cast  than  the  aver- 
age even  of  that  day,  was  out  for  slaves  and  plunder;  just 
what  enormities  he  committed  in  those  stifling  and  miasmatic 
woods  we  shall  never  know ;  but  what  we  do  know  of  them 
almost  justifies  the  Spanish  criticism  that  Dalfinger  was 
even  more  fond  of  blood  and  cruelty  than  themselves.  His 
scheme  was  to  depopulate  the  regions  through  which  he 
passed,  and  he  came  within  measurable  distance  of  realiz- 
ing his  ideal.  In  course  of  time  he  had  struggled  to  the 
banks  of  the  great  Magdalena  River,  and  followed  the  wind- 
ings of  one  of  its  affluents  southward,  until  the  multiplicity 
of  lagoons  confused  his  route,  and  forced  him  up  to  a  cooler 
region  on  the  heights  of  the  hills.  Here  he  encountered  an 
enemy  who  fought  with  such  determination  that  he  was 
unable  to  do  away  with  him ;  he  was  doubtless  the  Muysca, 
and  Dalfinger  was  closer  than  he  imagined  to  El  Dorado. 
But  too  many  of  his  men  were  dead  by  this  time ;  he  could 
not  advance,  and  wintered  where  he  was.  In  the  spring 
he  resumed  his  raid;  but  the  natives  drew  him  into  the 
Ambrosia  Valley,  and  there  smote  him  terribly  once  more. 
With  little  more  than  a  hundred  men  he  retreated  through 


PIZARRO  219 

the  forest  to  Coro,  which  he  reached  in  May,  1530.  In  spite 
of  his  reverses,  he  had  brought  back  forty  thousand  pesos  in 
gold,  and  had  previously  sent  nearly  as  much  by  carriers 
to  Coro;  but  this  latter  sum  never  arrived.  Somewhere  in 
those  woods  it  lies  scattered,  forever  lost  to  sight  beneath 
the  fierce  tropic  vegetation.  It  might  be  identified  by  the 
Spanish  bones  and  armor  that  lie  mingled  with  it.  It  has 
been  said  by  some  that  Dalfinger  himself  died  this  year ;  but 
the  records  make  it  appear  more  probable  that  his  end  did 
not  come  for  two  years  more.  At  all  events  he  never  again 
sought  El  Dorado. 

But  there  were  others  to  take  up  his  work;  and  this  time 
the  Spaniards  bore  their  share.  A  water  and  land  expedi- 
tion was  arranged  to  start  from  Santa  Marta;  one  part  was 
to  ascend  the  river  on  brigantines,  the  other  to  march  by 
land  and  meet  the  brigautines  at  the  town  of  Tamalameque, 
on  the  right  bank  of  the  river,  the  furthest  trading  point 
south  in  this  region.  The  water  party  was  commanded  by 
Adalantado  Lugo,  late  of  the  Canary  Islands ;  the  land  force 
was  led  by  Gonzalo  Ximenes  de  Quesada,  afterward  known 
by  the  title  of  El  Conquistador;  he  was  at  this  time  thirty- 
seven  years  old.  He  had  six  hundred  and  twenty  men  on 
foot  and  eighty-five  mounted.  Both  parties  set  out  in  April, 
1536,  but  only  the  land  party  got  to  the  rendezvous;  the 
boats  met  with  accidents,  and  the  remnant  of  them  turned 
back.  Quesada  had  the  enterprise  to  himself;  but  for  a  long 
time  he  was  supposed  by  those  on  the  coast  to  have  perished. 

Quesada  was  making  very  nearly  the  same  march  that 
Dalfinger  had  made ;  but  Dalfinger  had  at  least  had  Indians 
to  rob  and  to  furnish  provisions  for  his  troops;  these  Indians 
were  no  longer  accessible,  and  Quesada  must  find  food  as 
best  he  could  unaided.  Meanwhile  the  poisonous  plants, 
insects,  and  miasmas  were  as  busy  as  ever;  and  his  men 
kept  dropping.  But  Quesada  was  a  true  leader,  and  he  kept 
his  soldiers  to  their  work.  None  of  them  endured  more 
hardships  than  he,  or  endured  them  so  well ;  none  was  more 
active,  resourceful,  helpful  and  cheerful.  At  the  same  time 


220  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

his  discipline  was  of  the  strictest.  By  hook  or  by  crook  he 
finally  brought  his  force,  or  what  was  left  of  it,  to  the  ren- 
dezvous, only  to  learn  that  the  succor  they  expected  was  not 
there.  What  was  to  be  done?  Retreat  by  land  would  be 
fatal ;  he  must  go  forward,  and  he  chose  to  follow  the  paths 
of  the  salt  traders  from  the  upper  waters  of  the  river.  A 
couple  of  leaky  brigantines  had  been  left  at  Tamalameque; 
he  pushed  forward,  and  reached  Latora,  four  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  Magdalena;  he  had  now 
been  eight  months  on  the  march,  and  had  met  with  no  luck 
whatever,  except  bad  luck.  The  brigantines  could  go  no 
further;  looking  around  him,  nothing  was  to  be  seen  but 
swirling  streams  and  turbulent  torrents  rushing  downward 
and  spreading  out  in  all  directions;  the  tropical  rains  had 
overflowed  the  rivers,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  whole  world 
were  turning  to  forest  and  flood.  There  was  no  moving 
either  forward  or  back;  must  they  then  die  miserably  thus? 
The  men  were  only  kept  from  mutiny  by  their  ignorance 
of  what  to  do,  and  which  way  to  go.  Quesada  sent  two  of 
his  captains  up  toward  the  mountains,  and  in  a  few  days 
they  came  back  with  news  of  men  of  some  sort  living  up 
yonder.  Quesada  himself  made  a  reconnoissance  thither- 
ward, and  found  a  village;  he  now  sent  his  sick  men  back 
to  Cartagena  in  the  leaky  brigantines,  and  with  one  hundred 
and  sixty-six  men — all  that  were  left  of  his  seven  hundred — 
he  pressed  on  to  the  great  plateau  of  Cundinamarca.  It 
was  the  opening  of  the  year  1537. 

The  Indians  obstructed  the  Spaniards'  advance  as  best 
they  could,  taking  them  for  man-eaters ;  but  when  the  Span- 
iards had  halted  from  fatigue,  two  of  their  horses  ran  away, 
and  so  frightened  the  savages  that  they  fled.  Still  advancing 
the  next  day,  they  came  to  a  village  deserted,  on  a  plain 
surrounded  by  higher  ground,  from  which  the  late  inhabi- 
tants overlooked  them.  By  way  of  appeasing  what  they 
supposed  to  be  their  craving  for  human  flesh,  the  savages 
offered  them  an  old  man,  then  children,  and  finally  a  naked 
man  and  woman,  and  a  stag.  The  Spaniards  ate  only  the 


PIZABEO  221 

latter,  which  gave  confidence  to  the  natives,  and  they  came 
down  from  their  eyries  and  made  friendly  overtures,  which 
Quesada  gladly  accepted.  This  country  was  tributary  to  the 
Muysca,  and  hated  them.  They  showed  the  invaders  the 
route  to  the  chief  city  of  Bogota,  where  emeralds  and  gold, 
they  said,  were  abundant.  A  battle  with  the  Bogota  people 
ensued;  they  were  defeated;  but  in  their  scattering  flight 
they  took  their  gold  and  emeralds  with  them.  Where  the 
treasure  was  hidden  the  Spaniards  could  not  discover.  But 
at  length  a  rival  chief  directed  them  to  the  stronghold  of 
the  Tunja  tribe,  and  Quesada  surprised  the  principal  Tunja 
chiefs  in  their  council -house;  a  fight  followed,  and  the 
Tunjas  got  the  worst  of  it.  And  here,  at  last,  was  treasure 
in  plenty :  so  big  a  pile  of  gold  and  gems  that  a  man  on 
horseback  could  be  hidden  behind  it.  Probably  as  much  as 
was  obtained  had  been  carried  off  or  concealed ;  but  about  a 
million  dollars'  worth  of  gold,  and  near  two  thousand  emer- 
alds, were  collected.  But  where  was  El  Dorado  himself? 
He  could  not  be  found,  though  always  came  the  rumor  that 
he  was  but  a  short  distance  further,  this  way  or  that.  One 
report  had  it  that  the  bulk  of  the  gold  v/as  in  possession  of 
a  tribe  of  warlike  Amazons  in  the  south.  But  Quesada  had 
not  the  men  to  attempt  a  search  in  that  direction.  He 
founded  the  city  of  Santa  Fe  de  Bogota,  in  August,  1538; 
in  the  midst  of  which  employment  he  was  surprised  by  the 
news  that  two  other  parties  of  white  men  were  in  the  imme- 
diate neighborhood.  One  of  them  turned  out  to  be  that 
of  Belalcazar,  from  Quito  in  Peru,  lured  hither  by  a  New 
Granada  Indian  with  tales  of  El  Dorado;  the. other  was 
commanded  by  Nicolaus  Federmann,  a  lieutenant  of  Von 
Speyer,  the  successor  of  Dalfinger.  Federmann  too  was  in 
quest  of  El  Dorado;  and  thus,  by  a  coincidence,  the  three 
leaders  were  at  the  same  time,  with  the  same  object,  on  the 
same  spot.  Which  of  the  three  had  the  right  of  way?  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  Quesada  had  that  right;  but  the  others 
would  not  admit  it  without  a  struggle.  Had  there  been 
a  fight,  with  the  savages  waiting  to  take  advantage  of  it, 


222  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

there  would  soon  have  been  no  white  men  left  in  Cundina- 
marca;  bat  the  three  captains  agreed  to  submit  'heir  claims 
to  Spain,  and  departed  for  that  country,  leaving  their  armies 
to  hold  the  territory.  Federmann  never  came  back.  He 
had  disobeyed  the  orders  of  his  superiors,  and  the  Welsers 
dismissed  him  in  disgrace.  Whether  he  died  in  shipwreck, 
or  at  Madrid,  is  not  known ;  but  die  somehow  he  did,  four 
or  five  years  later.  Quesada  was  treated  with  base  ingrati- 
tude, which  ought  not  to  have  surprised  him,  being  in  the 
service  of  Spain ;  he  was  kept  hi  semi-durance  for  nine  years, 
and  then  was  given  the  sop  of  a  useless  title.  But  the  Span- 
ish hold  upon  Cundinamarca  was  never  relaxed,  and  it  was 
the  last  of  the  three  places — Mexico  and  Peru  being  the 
others — where  a  great  treasure  of  gold,  in  a  mass,  was 
secured.  But  the  search  still  continued  for  that  impossible 
fairy  region  where  all  was  gold;  and  though,  before  the 
end  of  the  century,  the  market  value  of  the  metal  had,  ow- 
ing to  the  immense,  finds,  decreased  forty  per  cent,  the  search 
was  prosecuted  only  the  more  eagerly. 

Already,  about  1530,  Diego  de  Ordaz  had  ascended  the 
Orinoco,  and  had  pushed  into  the  interior  in  search  of  a 
golden  province  called  Meta,  toward  the  west.  This  was, 
under  another  name,  and  with  some  change  of  locality,  the 
story  of  the  El  Dorado  region  over  again.  Ordaz  was  forced 
to  retreat  without  discovering  aught  of  value.  During  his 
absence  from  the  coast,  he  had  been  superseded  by  one 
Sedeno,  and  going  to  Spain  with  his  complaints,  as  had  so 
many  disappointed  Spaniards  before  him,  he  died  at  sea 
in  1533.  Sedeno  in  his  turn  got  into  trouble;  and  in  1534, 
Alonzo  de  Herrera  went  up  the  Orinoco,  and  to  the  mouth 
of  the  River  Meta ;  but  he  was  slain  by  savages,  and  only 
a  few  of  his  party  got  back  to  the  coast.  The  next  year 
D'Ortal  attempted  the  same  journey,  but  his  men  mutinied, 
and  he  gave  up  the  business  of  adventure,  and  married  and 
settled  down,  with  a  common  sense  which,  for  those  times, 
seems  preternatural.  In  1535,  Von  Speyer,  in  the  Welser 
service,  went  in  quest  of  Meta,  from  Coroj  he  got  into 


PIZARRO  223 

flooded  districts,  and  his  command  was  much  depleted  by 
illness  and  Indians.  He  was  one  of  the  unlucky  ones,  but 
he  was  very  persistent,  and  kept  on  to  the  sources  of  the 
Meta,  and  still  further  to  the  borders  of  Ecuador.  After  get- 
ting within  a  hundred  miles  of  the  equator,  he  was  obliged 
to  retreat,  and  reached  Coro,  very  much  the  worse  for  wear, 
three  years  after  he  had  left  it.  Meanwhile,  as  we  have 
seen,  his  lieutenant  Federmann,  who  had  been  ordered  by 
Von  Speyer  to  go  west  to  fix  the  boundaries  of  Venezuela 
and  Santa  Marta  or  New  Granada,  had  on  the  contrary 
started  to  find  El  Dorado  on  his  private  account,  with  what 
result  we  know.  The  upshot  of  these  eight  or  ten  years  was, 
some  millions  in  gold  and  gems,  and  several  lines  of  explo- 
ration carried  across  the  wilderness  of  forest  and  savanna 
of  northern  South  America. 

The  search  was  now  to  take  a  more  southerly  direction. 
We  have  already  seen  that  Belalcazar  had  met  Quesada  and 
Federmann  in  Cundinamarca.  Belalcazar  was  there  in  de- 
fiance of  orders  from  Pizarro;  but  the  latter,  not  sorry  to 
be  rid  of  him,  sent  his  brother  Gonzalo  to  take  his  place  at 
Quito.  Gonzalo  found  little  to  amuse  him  in  Quito,  and 
making  up  his  mind  that  Belalcazar  was  gone  for  good 
and  swallowed  up  in  the  wilderness,  resolved  to  take  a  hand 
at  finding  El  Dorado  himself.  He  shaped  his  route  toward 
the  south  and  the  Amazon,  though  at  that  time  neither  he 
nor  any  one  else  knew  that  such  a  river  existed.  But  innu- 
merable minor  rivers — affluents  of  the  Amazon — flowed  in 
a  southeasterly  direction ;  and  Gonzalo  sent  his  lieutenant, 
Orellana,  by  way  of  the  Napo  River,  designing  to  meet  him 
at  some  point  along  its  course.  But  the  Napo  flowed  so 
swiftly  that  Orellana  reached  the  rendezvous  long  before 
Gonzalo,  who  was  occupied  in  cutting  paths  through  the 
dense  tropic  jungle.  In  fact,  Gonzalo  never  got  anywhere 
in  particular;  but  in  process  of  time  reappeared  at  Quito  in 
the  last  stages  of  destitution.  Meanwhile  Orellana,  after 
waiting  for  him  until  his  provisions  gave  out,  was  forced  to 
go  forward — go  back  against  stream  he  could  not — and  from 


224  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

the  Napo  he  floated  into  the  Amazon,  and  down  that  enor- 
mous stream  he  continued  until  he  passed  its  mouth.  Thence 
he  proceeded  up  the  coast  to  Cubagua,  which  he  reached  in 
1541 — the  expedition  having  set  out  in  1539.  He  related 
that  he  had  met  with  a  tribe  of  women  fighters  on  the 
banks  of  the  river;  and  that  a  captive  Indian  had  told 
huii  that  a  tribe  of  Amazons,  having  much  gold,  dwelt  to 
the  north.  This  story  aided  to  fix  the  new  site  of  El  Dorado 
in  this  hypothetical  Amazonian  country;  the  only  other 
result  of  the  journey  was  the  discovery  of  the  river  itself. 
Von  Speyer  being  dead,  his  place  as  governor  at  Coro 
hi  the  interests  of  the  Welsers  was  taken  bj*  Bastidas ;  and 
he  chose  Captain  Limpias  to  carry  out  the  explorations  which 
Von  Speyer  had  begun.  With  him  went  Von  Hiitten,  a  val- 
iant young  German  knight,  and  Bartolomaus  Welser,  son  of 
the  founder  of  the  house.  Von  Hiitten  and  his  party  set 
out  in  1541,  and  blundered  through  the  forests  for  nearly 
two  years,  returning  in  1543,  with  nothing  done,  to  that 
point  near  the  sources  of  the  river  Japura  (close  to  the 
northern  borders  of  Ecuador)  from  which  they  had  made 
their  plunge  into  the  unknown.  But  during  his  wanderings 
he  had  been  told  by  an  Indian  of  a  rich  country  to  the  east ; 
at  the  time  he  had  disregarded  or  distrusted  this  informa- 
tion ;  but  now  he  thought  it  was  at  least  worth  looking  intp. 
Accordingly,  with  only  forty  horsemen,  he  started  in  that 
direction,  and  though  warned  by  the  friendly  Uaupes  that 
he  was  exposing  himself  to  danger  from  the  powerful  tribe 
of  the  Omaguas,  he  kept  on,  and  somewhere  north  of  the 
Amazon  and  west  of  its  juncture  with  the  Rio  Negro,  he 
came  upon  one  of  the  Omagua  settlements.  The  Omaguas 
were  a  race  which  occupied,  with  their  several  branches,  an 
enormous  stretch  of  territory,  covering  thousands  of  miles; 
but  none  of  their  villages  was  very  large,  and  they  were  at 
long  distances  from  one  another.  The  one  upon  which  Von 
Hiitten  happened  to  stumble  was  perhaps  one  of  the  largest; 
at  all  events  the  annalists  of  the  expedition  assert  that  it  mus- 
tered no  less  than  fifteen  thousand  fighting  men.  Von  Hut- 


PIZAERO  225 

ten  and  his  forty  followers,  looking  down  upon  the  village 
from  a  height,  saw  what  they  took  to  be  a  rich  and  thriving 
town,  with  a  great  palace  in  the  midst,  which  they  at  once 
assumed  to  be  the  long-sought  home  of  the  Gilded  One.  As 
a  matter  of  fact  it  could  have  been  nothing  but  a  large  com- 
munal house,  built  of  wood  and  straw.  The  white  men  rode 
down  toward  it,  but  were  met  by  thousands  of  the  sav- 
ages, who  hurled  back  their  charges,  and  finally  drove  the 
invaders  off,  and  pursued  them  until  they  reached  the  coun- 
try of  the  Uaupes  once  more;  several  having  been  slain,  and 
both  Limpias  and  Von  Hiitten  wounded.  But  in  spite  of 
their  discomfiture,  the  white  men  were  happy,  believing  that 
they  had  found  El  Dorado,  and  only  had  to  get  sufficient 
reinforcements  to  return  and  capture  it. 

As  soon  as  they  had  recovered  from  the  effects  of  their 
fight  and  flight,  they  took  up  their  march  across  half  the 
length  of  the  continent  for  Coro.  But  now  a  quarrel  arose, 
between  Limpias  on  the  one  side,  and  the  Germans,  Von 
Hiitten  and  Welser,  on  the  other.  Limpias  demanded  to  be 
made  commander  of  the  expedition;  but  Welser  maintained 
that  he,  as  son  of  the  firm  that  leased  Venezuela  from  Spain, 
had  the  first  right  to  that  dignity.  Von  Hiitten  naturally 
backed  his  fellow-countryman.  The  three  wrangled  as  they 
threaded  their  way  through  the  forests  and  waded  or  swam 
the  rivers;  and  at  last  Limpias  left  the  others,  and  rode  on 
ahead  to  Coro,  meaning  to  complain  to  the  Spanish  represen- 
tatives and  destroy  German  influence  in  South  America.  The 
party  had  been  absent  four  years ;  and  events  had  occurred 
in  the  interval  which  favored  Limpias's  plans  of  revenge. 

Coro,  which  had  no  agricultural  support,  and  was  cursed 
with  one  governor  after  another,  each  a  greater  rogue  and 
scoundrel  than  his  predecessor,  had  finally  wound  up  with 
a  past  master  of  villany  in  the  shape  of  one  Carvajel,  who 
was  both  hostile  to  the  Germans,  and  also  a  traitor  to  Spam. 
In  order  to  escape  from  German  control,  he  proposed  to  the 
Spaniards,  who  formed  the  bulk  of  the  colonists,  to  leave 
Coro  and  enter  New  Granada  territory,  where  they  would 


226  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

be  in  better  circumstances.  And  in  fact  he  led  a  hegira 
southward  to  Tocuyo,  a  pleasant  spot  not  far  from  Coro. 
Hither  came  the  revengeful  Limpias,  and  found  a  ready 
listener  to  his  tale.  Von  Hutten  and  Welser,  with  their 
men,  were  not  far  behind,  and  no  time  should  be  lost  in 
devising  means  for  their  destruction.  Emissaries  were  sent 
back  to  meet  the  advance  guard  under  Von  Hutten  and 
Welser  at  Barquicimeto ;  the  two  Germans  were  told  a  tale 
which  brought  them  on  to  Tocuyo,  where  a  quarrel  was 
forced  upon  them;  they  were  arrested  by  Carvajel,  and  the 
next  day  they  were  duly  beheaded.  This  was  the  end  of 
German  power  in  Venezuela;  for  although  Carvajel  himself 
was  decapitated  not  long  after,  and  Limpias  disappeared, 
the  Welsers  never  again  attempted  to  renew  their  hold  upon 
the  province.  "Von  Hiitten's  fate,"  says  Bandelier,  whom 
we  have  followed  in  this  narration,  "the  extinction  of  the 
settlement  at  Coro,  and  the  threatened  depopulation  of 
the  Venezuelan  peninsula,  precluded  any  further  thought 
of  an  expedition  into  the  interior  southward.  The  Brazil- 
ian coast  was  too  far  from  the  unknown  interior,  which  was 
concealed  in  immense  forests.  The  western  coasts,  particu- 
larly those  of  New  Granada  and  Peru,  where  the  Amazon 
begins  its  course,  not  only  lay  geographically  nearest  to  the 
region  in  question,  but  were  also  the  seats  of  the  strongest 
and  richest  settlements  of  the  Spaniards  in  South  America : 
the  only  ones  from  which  campaigns  could  now  be  under- 
taken. But  although  the  population  of  the  west  had  rapidly 
increased  under  the  stimulus  of  the  metallic  treasures  found 
in  the  country,  events  in  Peru  made  further  expeditions  im- 
possible for  years.  The  conflict  between  Pizarro  and  Alma- 
gro  culminated  hi  bloodshed  in  1538.  An  unbroken  succes- 
sion of  crimes,  to  which  nearly  all  the  conquistadores  fell 
victims  (thereby  expiating  their  own  offences)  marked  the 
progress  of  the  insurrection,  till  it  overshadowed  the  coast 
from  Chili  to  Popayan.  And  when  the  insurrectionists  pre- 
vailed from  Popayan  to  Atacameta,  then  the  threatened 
storm  loomed  also  over  the  southern  horizon  of  New  Gra- 


PIZARRO  227 

nada  and  reached  the  heart  of  Cundinamarca.  It  was  no 
time  for  expeditions  to  the  interior — every  force  had  to  be 
used  for  self-preservation.  In  this  period  a  man  came  upon 
the  stage  in  New  Granada  who  is  to  be  especially  associated 
with  El  Dorado.  He  was  Don  Pedro  de  Ursua,  a  young 
knight  from  Pampluna  hi  Navarre ;  he  was  nephew  of  the 
royal  judge  Armendariz,  who  arrived  with  him  in  1545. 
Armendariz  came  as  Inquisitorial  Judge,  and  appointed  his 
nephew  his  lieutenant." 

The  Bogota  government  had  been  in  the  hands  of  a  thief, 
Alonzo  de  Luga,  who  on  hearing  of  the  Judge's  arrival,  took 
his  booty,  amounting  to  three  hundred  thousand  ducats,  and 
escaped  to  Milan,  where  he  died  in  comfort.  Ursua  took  his 
place  at  Bogota.  He  was  then  twenty  years  old,  and  acted 
as  military  aid  to  Armendariz.  The  Muysca  had  ere  this 
been  subjugated,  but  other  savage  tribes  were  still  inde- 
pendent, and  as  it  was  from  them  that  the  Muysca  had 
got  their  gold,  it  seemed  doubly  expedient  to  subdue  them. 
Ursua  waged  a  war  of  extermination  against  them,  and 
murdered  all  the  chiefs  of  the  Musos,  by  treachery.  This 
exploit  recommended  him  to  the  authorities,  and  he  was 
sent  to  Panama  to  exterminate  the  natives  there.  He  ac- 
complished this  in  two  years,  and  in  1558  followed  Caneta 
to  Peru.  Here  there  were  living  a  large  number  of  disor- 
derly persons,  relics  of  the  various  rebellions,  of  whom  the 
viceroy  wished  to  be  rid;  and  the  best  plan  seemed  to  be 
to  send  them  out  of  the  country  on  some  grand  adventure. 
The  region  east  of  the  Andes  was  to  be  the  objective  point. 
Chili,  New  Granada,  and  the  banks  of  La  Plata  were  al- 
ready occupied  by  Spaniards ;  the  expedition  must  go  where 
it  would  disturb  no  existing  colony.  The  rumors  of  gold  in 
Brazil  were  already  rife.  No  difficulty  was  found  in  getting 
volunteers  for  the  expedition,  for  the  disorderly  element  was 
as  anxious  to  get  away  before  their  records  were  investi- 
gated, as  the  authorities  were  to  have  them  go.  Ursua  was 
chosen  for  the  leader.  He  was  to  be  governor  of  whatever 
countries  he  might  conquer.  Not  till  1560  was  he  ready  to 


228  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

start.  The  scum  of  Peru  composed  the  army,  and  there 
were  women  among  them.  To  captain  such  a  rabble,  a  man 
of  exceptional  strength  of  character  was  needed ;  Ursua  was 
bold  and  reckless  enough,  but  he  was  frivolous  and  indolent. 
He  set  an  example  of  immorality  from  the  beginning,  robbing 
the  priest  of  Santa  Cruz  of  five  thousand  pesos,  and  taking 
with  him  as  his  mistress  the  young  and  beautiful  widow  of 
Pedro  de  Arcos,  the  Donna  Inez.  Before  getting  off,  he 
hanged  several  of  his  followers  for  the  murder  of  one  of 
his  officers ;  and  this  act  of  incongruous  severity  boded  him 
no  good.  But  on  July  1,  1560,  the  advance  guard  got  off 
in  a  brigantine  to  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Ucayali.  It  was 
commanded  by  Juan  de  Vargas.  The  rest,  delayed  by  the 
unseaworthiness  of  their  boats,  did  not  follow  till  the  end  of 
September.  Everybody  was  surly  and  dissatisfied.  When 
they  overtook  De  Vargas  they  found  his  party  half  starved, 
and  the  brigantine  rotten.  These  men  therefore  had  to  find 
room  on  the  already  crowded  boats  of  the  main  body,  which 
caused  more  trouble,  increased  by  the  fact  that  Ursua  insisted 
upon  reserving  ample  accommodations  for  himself  and  the 
fair  Inez.  Below  the  mouth  of  the  Napo  the  flotilla  landed, 
found  provender,  and  repaired  the  boats.  The  Indian  guides 
pointed  still  eastward  as  the  site  of  the  gold  country.  By 
Christmas  they  were  in  the  Omagua  country,  where  he  de- 
cided to  rest  awhile.  His  men  were  already  ripe  for  mutiny, 
and  there  was  a  certain  Aguirre  among  them  who  was  well 
fitted  to  be  the  leading  spirit  of  the  worst  desperadoes  in  the 
world. 

Aguirre  was  fifty  years  old,  a  Biscayan,  and  had  already 
spent  twenty  years  in  Peru.  He  was  a  fugitive  from  justice 
for  many  violent  and  bloody  crimes;  was  short  and  spare  in 
figure,  ugly,  black-bearded,  eagle-eyed.  He  hated  all  gov- 
ernment, order  and  civilization;  was  shrewd,  an  excellent 
speaker,  and  a  man  who  knew  just  what  he  wanted  at  all 
times.  He  was,  says  the  sober  Bandelier,  "the  most  detest- 
able figure  of  the  Conquest." 

Ursua's  heedlessness  gave  the  conspirators  every  oppor- 


PIZARRO  229 

tunity.  About  Christmas  time,  a  number  of  the  best  soldiers 
had  left  the  camp  on  an  exploring  expedition.  On  the  first 
of  January,  1561,  a  party  of  men  well-armed  came  unbidden 
to  Ursua's  quarters,  where  he  lay  in  a  hammock.  Without 
ado,  they  fell  upon  him  and  killed  him;  Juan  de  Vargas  was 
the  next  victim,  and  with  shouts  of  "Liberty!"  the  murder- 
ers assembled  in  the  hut  of  Fernando  de  Guzman.  The  lat- 
ter was  made  governor,  with  Aguirre  second  in  command. 
Upon  consultation,  the  majority  were  in  favor  of  continuing 
the  search  for  El  Dorado,  though  Aguirre  was  with  the  dis- 
senting minority.  A  paper  declaring  Ursua's  death  a  neces- 
sity was  signed  by  all,  and  Aguirre  wrote  his  name,  "Lope 
de  Aguirre,  Traitor. ' '  To  the  protests  of  the  others  he  said, 
"  We  have  killed  the  king's  representative;  we  are  all  trait- 
ors and  rebels,  and  our  heads  are  at  the  order  of  the  first 
pettifogger  who  comes  among  us  with  royal  authority." 
Many  who  heard  this  speech  were  angry,  but  it  terrified 
all,  for  they  knew  its  truth;  and  Aguirre,  as  the  boldest 
among  these  desperate  criminals,  and  the  one  who  best 
knew  what  to  do,  gained  an  influence  over  all.  Fernando 
de  Guzman  became  the  Biscayan's  tool.  The  party  pro- 
ceeded down  the  river,  suffering  for  food,  and  finally  eat- 
ing the  horses;  Aguirre  made  use  of  the  demoralization 
that  prevailed  to  get  all  the  approximately  decent  men  out 
of  their  commands,  and  to  substitute  creatures  of  his  own. 
After  passing  the  mouth  of  the  Japura,  the  Indian  guides 
confessed  they  did  not  know  the  country,  and  it  was  decided 
to  invade  Peru! 

How  were  they  to  get  there?  The  plan  which  Aguirre 
now  disclosed  was  magnificent,  as  such  things  go.  They 
could  not  of  course  return  by  the  way  they  had  come.  His 
proposition  was  to  keep  on  down  the  Amazon  to  the  sea; 
capture  Margarita  by  surprise,  thence  proceed  to  Nombre 
de  Dios  and  Panama;  and  having  possessed  themselves  of 
the  latter,  they  would  trust  to  the  terror  they  should  have 
already  inspired,  and  to  the  support  of  the  many  thousands 
of  desperadoes  like  themselves  throughout  Spanish  America, 


230  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

to  accomplish  the  rest  of  the  enterprise.  The  very  magni- 
tude and  audacity  of  the  scheme  fascinated  Aguirre's  hear- 
ers; a  paper  announcing  independence  of  Spain  was  drawn 
up,  and  all  but  three  signed  it.  Two  of  these  were  killed; 
one — Francisco  Vasquez,  who  afterward  wrote  the  story  of 
the  adventure — escaped.  It  now  remained  for  Aguirre,  in 
order  to  get  chief  command,  to  murder  Fernando  de  Guz- 
man ;  the  other  officers  had  been  already  disposed  of.  Guzman 
was  liked  by  the  men  on  account  of  his  courtesy  and  good 
humor;  in  order  to  render  him  unpopular,  Aguirre  worked 
upon  his  ambition  and  vanity;  he  proclaimed  him  "Prince 
and  King  of  the  mainland  of  Peru";  whereupon  Guzman 
became  haughty  and  arbitrary,  and  took  on  a  state  and 
dignity  which  offended  the  men.  His  fall,  when  the  right 
moment  should  have  arrived,  was  now  certain. 

Meantime  new  boats  were  built,  and  before  Easter  the 
start  was  made.  In  order  to  avoid  further  temptations  to- 
ward El  Dorado,  Aguirre  changed  the  course  of  the  expedi- 
tion to  the  Rio  Negro.  It  was  now  that  Aguirre  determined 
to  make  away  with  Guzman,  and  his  friend  Salduendo,  to 
whom  ere  this  the  beautiful  but  inconstant  Inez  had  attached 
herself.  He  first  quarrelled  with  Salduendo,  murdered  him 
with  his  own  hands  in  Guzman's  presence,  and  then  sent 
two  assassins  to  kill  Inez,  which  they  did  with  circumstances 
of  revolting  atrocity.  Guzman,  at  last  alarmed,  resolved  on 
Aguirre's  death ;  but  he  was  too  late.  Aguirre  collected  his 
adherents  that  night  and  slaughtered  Guzman  and  six  officers 
who  attached  themselves  to  him.  The  next  morning  he  was 
proclaimed  "General  of  the  Maranon,"  and  his  band  received 
the  name  of  Maranones.  Whether  the  expedition  passed 
down  the  Orinoco  or  the  Amazon  is  uncertain;  but  at  all 
events  they  reached  the  ocean  on  July  1,  1561.  During 
the  trip,  Aguirre,  who  ruled  now  by  terror,  murdered  eight 
more  of  the  band.  "Every  new  crime,"  says  Bandelier, 
"attached  the  rest,  by  the  sense  of  common  guilt,  more 
closely  to  their  leader,  who,  like  an  evil  spirit,  led  them, 
with  an  iron  will,  to  further  crimes." 


PIZARRO  231 

At  Margarita,  Aguirre  captured  the  governor  by  surprise 
and  took  the  fort;  seized  the  royal  treasury  and  provisions 
and  ammunition,  and  proclaimed  independence.  He  then 
sent  some  of  his  men  to  capture  a  large  ship  in  the  harbor; 
but  they  took  the  opportunity  to  desert  and  surrender  to  the 
priest  Montesinos,  to  whom  they  made  confession  of  the  plot. 
Montesinos  at  once  sent  messengers  to  warn  the  Venezuelan 
settlements,  and  ere  long  fifteen  hundred  men  were  under  arms 
in  New  Granada;  in  Venezuela,  two  hundred  and  sixty.  All 
this  while  Aguirre  was  awaiting  the  return  of  his  faithless 
emissaries,  and  was  robbing  and  murdering  on  all  sides 
throughout  the  island.  Finally  the  vessel  he  was  expecting 
came  in  sight ;  but  it  flew  the  royal  flag  of  Spain !  Aguirre 
promptly  killed  the  governor  of  Margarita  and  his  principal 
officers,  and  went  down  to  prevent  the  ship  from  landing 
its  men.  The  ship  then  set  sail  to  carry  the  news  to  the 
Antilles  and  the  Isthmus.  Aguirre  determined  to  invade 
Venezuela,  which,  owing  to  the  depletion  of  its  inhabitants 
on  El  Dorado  expeditions,  was  nearly  without  inhabitants. 
He  obtained  a  vessel  in  which  he  embarked  his  well-armed 
cutthroats,  hoisted  a  flag  bearing  the  device  of  two  blood - 
red  swords  crossed,  and  set  sail.  Passing  Burburata,  whose 
inhabitants  fled  to  the  woods,  he  marched  to  Valencia,  some 
of  his  men  deserting  him  on  the  way.  He  burned  the  aban- 
doned town,  and  indulged  in  the  wildest  fantasies  of  brutal- 
ity, even  toward  his  own  followers;  and  issued  a  manifesto 
addressed  to  the  king  of  Spain  which  is  full  of  evidences  of 
insanity.  He  now  turned  southwest  toward  Barquicimeto, 
his  men  still  gradually  dropping  away  from  him;  the  town 
was  deserted,  but  a  royal  force  under  Paredes  prevented 
Aguirre  from  going  further.  For  several  days  deserters 
continued  to  flock  to  the  royal  flag,  and  Aguirre  became 
more  violent  but  also  less  powerful.  At  last  Paredes  re- 
solved to  risk  an  attack ;  before  battle  could  be  joined,  the 
men  remaining  with  Aguirre  threw  away  their  arms  and 
cried  for  the  king.  Aguirre,  finding  himself  lost,  went  to 
the  room  in  which  was  his  only  daughter,  a  grown  maiden, 


232  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

and  said  to  her,  "My  child,  God  have  mercy  on  your  soul, 
for  I  am  going  to  kill  you,  so  that  you  shall  not  live  in  mis- 
ery and  shame  the  child  of  a  traitor."  With  that  he  stabbed 
her  to  the  heart.  The  royal  troops  approached ;  he  went  out 
to  meet  them,  and  though  Paredes  wished  to  capture  him 
alive,  his  late  followers  would  take  no  risks,  but  shot  him 
down  like  a  mad  dog  on  the  spot.  They  chopped  off  his 
head,  put  it  in  a  cage,  and  exhibited  it  in  Tocuyo.  His 
memory  to  this  day  is  a  bogey  to  frighten  children  withal 
in  Venezuela.  But  with  his  death,  the  systematic  search 
for  El  Dorado  ceased,  though  many  persons  subsequently 
were  affected  by  the  legends  concerning  it.  El  Dorado  him- 
self had  ceased  to  be  before  the  first  searchers  started  out  to 
find  him;  and  he  became  a  sort  of  unsubstantial  mirage, 
to  lead  men  astray,  until  the  trail  was  finally  lost  in  the 
marshy  forests  of  northern  Brazil. 


CHILI  233 


IV 

CHILI 

THE  time  needed  to  conquer  Peru  could  almost  be  meas- 
ured by  months ;  Chili  was  not  completely  in  the  in- 
vaders' power  after  some  centuries  had  elapsed;  and 
the  Araucanian  Indians,  though  they  have,  within  this  gen- 
eration, accepted  the  situation,  never  were  finally  overcome 
by  Spaniards.  There  are  still  over  fifty  thousand  of  these 
indomitable  mountaineers  occupying  the  southern  part  of 
the  long-drawn-out  region  which  bears  the  name  formally 
bestowed  only  upon  a  small  section  to  the  north ;  they  retain 
the  personal  dignity  and  independent  bearing  which  were 
theirs  four  hundred  years  ago;  and  though  the  fierce  alco- 
holic liquors  prepared  for  them  by  Europeans  may  gradually 
avail  to  extinguish  them,  they  will  always  be  remembered 
as  the  single  aboriginal  American  race  who  never  bent  their 
necks  to  the  yoke  of  foreigners.  For  this  they  merit  the 
thanks  of  all  friends  of  manhood  and  liberty. 

When  we  inquire  as  to  the  condition  of  Chili  before  Al- 
magro  marched  thither  from  Cuzco,  we  find  the  ambiguity 
common  in  answers  to  all  similar  questions  in  the  western 
continent.  The  Incas  had  previously  invaded  the  country, 
but  it  is  probable  that  they  never  got  further  south  than  the 
River  Maule,  in  south  latitude  thirty -six  degrees,  some  two 
hundred  miles  below  Valparaiso.  The  inhabitants  were 
divided  up  into  fifteen  tribes;  but  as  these  all  spoke  sub- 
stantially the  same  language,  it  was  surmised  that  they 
had  originally  been  one  people;  or  that  Chili  had  in  the 
remote  past  been  ruled  by  a  strong  and  semi- civilized  race 
which  had  now  disappeared,  after  the  style  of  the  ancient 
Piruas  of  Peru.  This  is  a  surmise  and  nothing  more;  hav- 
ing the  value  and  the  lack  of  value  attaching  to  all  like 


234  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

guesses.  Here,  at  all  events,  were  some  millions  of  people 
who,  unlike  the  Peruvians,  acknowledged  no  paramount 
lord,  but  lived  almost  in  a  state  of  individual  freedom; 
each  tribe  had  its  chiefs,  but  the  power  of  the  latter  was 
far  from  absolute,  and  they  could  be  deposed  for  cause.  It 
was  this  fact  that  made  the  country  so  hard  a  nut  for  Span- 
iards to  crack;  it  was  in  vain  that  they  murdered  the  native 
leaders,  and  hung  up  their  remains  in  trees  to  scare  their 
followers ;  the  latter  were  only  the  more  enraged  and  fought 
the  harder.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  Spaniards  built  towns 
and  planted  colonies  here  and  there ;  the  Indians  came  back 
like  the  tide  of  the  sea,  and  again  and  again  overwhelmed 
the  foreign  settlements.  Spain  has  been  hated  by  all  other 
nations  ever  since  she  first  achieved  her  own  national  exist- 
ence; but  she  has  never  been  more  soundly  hated  than  by 
the  natives  of  Chili,  and  has  never  fought  so  many  battles 
with  such  small  result  as  there.  To-day,  the  country  is  held 
by  a  race  of  more  or  less  impure  blood,  endowed  with  an  ape- 
like imitativeness  and  superficial  intelligence;  vain,  insolent 
and  quarrelsome;  slothful  and  frivolous  in  character,  and 
quite  devoid  of  independent  initiative.  Left  to  themselves, 
they  could  accomplish  nothing.  But  the  country  is  rich  in 
an  industrial  population  of  Englishmen  and  Germans,  who 
carry  on  all  operations  conducive  toward  the  development  of 
wealth  and  power.  They  build  the  railroads  and  bridges, 
construct  the  irrigation  works,  superintend  the  mining  oper- 
ations, and  promote  commerce.  It  is  in  Europe  that  ships  of 
war  are  built;  and  it  is  to  European  docks  that  they  must 
be  taken  to  be  repaired.  The  war  leaders  and  rulers  of  Chili 
who  have  achieved  success  have  been  Irishmen  or  other  for- 
eigners; whatever  institutions  and  laws  are  of  value  in  Chili 
have  been  introduced  from  foreign  sources.  The  cause  that 
has  drawn  these  valuable  foreigners  to  Chili  has  been,  of 
course,  the  great  natural  wealth  of  the  country,  especially 
nitre  and  silver  in  the  north,  and  an  inferior  kind  of  coal  in 
the  south.  The  Creoles  own  the  land  in  which  these  natural 
sources  of  wealth  are  found,  and  they  receive  consequently 


CHILI  235 

the  major  part  of  the  profits  from  them;  but  there  still  re- 
mains enough  to  attract  foreign  workers.  The  financial 
existence  of  the  country  now  depends  chiefly  upon  the  nitre 
deposits  in  the  north,  in  the  region  lately  conquered  from 
Peru;  but  the  time  is  anticipated  when  this  resource  will 
have  been  exhausted;  and  that  time  will  involve  serious 
consequences  to  Chili.  The  country  is  nominally  a  repub- 
lic, whose  political  institutions  are  borrowed  from  those  of 
this  country ;  but  in  fact  it  is  a  vicious  oligarchy,  in  which 
almost  absolute  power  is  vested  in  the  President,  who,  though 
he  cannot  immediately  succeed  himself,  has  the  privilege  of 
naming  his  successor.  The  bulk  of  the  population,  outside 
of  the  Spanish  Creoles,  consists  of  peons,  who  are  a  sort  of 
bastard  Indians,  the  progeny  of  the  lower  aboriginal  tribes, 
generated  by  the  vices  of  their  masters.  They  have  been 
oppressed  for  so  many  generations  that  they  hardly  retain 
respectable  human  traits;  they  are  hard  workers  for  infini- 
tesimal wages,  and  live  almost  in  a  state  of  savagery;  their 
only  pleasures  are  petty  thieving  and  drunkenness.  A  com- 
munity of  this  kind  cannot  hope  for  permanent  existence; 
the  recent  prosperity  of  Chili  is  an  accidental  and  transient 
phenomenon,  which  will  disappear  as  soon  as  the  transient 
causes  which  have  led  to  it  cease  to  operate.  Never  was  a 
title  bestowed  upon  a  people  with  less  justification  in  fact 
than  when  the  Chilians  are  called  the  <;  Yankees  of  South 
America."  If  they  were  left  to  themselves  for  but  one 
generation,  they  would  vanish  as  a  nation.  The  child  born 
to-day  will  probably  see  their  finish;  and  they  will  be  suc- 
ceeded by  the  men  who  for  so  long  a  time  have  really  ad- 
ministered the  country.  Under  the  latter,  Chili  doubtless 
has  a  bright  future;  and  the  sooner  that  future  begins,  the 
better  will  it  be  for  civilization. 

For  the  country  itself  is  a  beautiful  and  desirable  one, 
well-suited  for  the  habitation  of  an  energetic  and  respectable 
race.  It  begins  at  about  south  latitude  17°,  and  extends  be- 
low latitude  55°,  in  Tierra  del  Fuego.  This  length  of  nearly 
three  thousand  miles  has  by  no  means  a  proportionate  breadth ; 
—  11 


236  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH   AMERI.CA 

at  the  widest  it  measures  but  three  hundred  miles.  On  the 
east  it  is  bounded  by  the  long  chain  of  the  Andes,  lifting 
snow-crowned  summits  from  end  to  end  of  the  continent. 
Parallel  with  the  Andes,  the  coast  range  guards  the  western 
boundary  along  the  Pacific;  the  height  of  these  mountains 
is  but  a  fraction  of  that  of  the  Andes;  but  the  two  enclose 
the  long,  irregular  valley  which  sustains  the  population. 
In  the  south,  the  coast  is  broken  up  into  countless  small 
islands,  with  sounds  and  winding  inlets  of  the  sea  separating 
them ;  and  the  geological  formation  of  the  northern  portions 
shows  that  in  prehistoric  times  the  coast  range  was  a  similar 
chain  of  islands,  and  that  the  long  valley  was  an  inland  sea, 
or  a  series  of  salt  lakes,  washing  the  western  slopes  of  the 
Andes.  In  the  extreme  north,  the  so-called  desert  of  Ata- 
cama  presents  an  arid  region  where  upon  the  clay  and  rock 
of  this  ancient  sea-bottom  is  imposed  a  layer  formed  of  the 
residue  of  decayed  seaweed,  which,  owing  to  various  chemi- 
cal changes-  and  additions,  has  become  the  nitre  of  com- 
merce. No  rivers  traverse  this  region,  and  rain  falls  there 
scarce  once  in  five  years,  and  even  then  it  amounts  to  little 
more  than  a  heavy  dew.  Were  it  otherwise,  the  nitre  beds 
would  be  washed  away,  and  the  present  wealth  of  Chili 
would  go  with  them.  But  it  would  be  possible,  in  some 
places,  for  irrigation  to  restore  the  desert  to  fertility;  and 
this  must  ultimately  be  done;  meanwhile,  any  attempt  to 
cultivate  by  this  means  is  forbidden,  for  vegetation  would 
change  the  climate,  and,  by  introducing  a  moister  atmos- 
phere, bring  on  the  rains  which  would  hasten  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  nitre  industry.  South  of  the  desert  is  the  agri- 
cultural section  of  Chili,  where  irrigation  is  carried  on  with 
favorable  results,  and  where  the  scenery  is  of  enchanting 
loveliness.  This  fertile  stretch  extends  over  barely  ten  de- 
grees of  latitude.  Further  south  the  landscape  again  takes 
on  a  severe  and  barren  aspect,  and  so  merges  into  the  forlorn 
domains  of  Patagonia. 

When  Almagro  was  ready  to  begin  his  march  into  this 
then  unknown  land,  he  had  his  choice  of  two  roads,  both 


CHILI  237 

built  by  the  Incas  in  their  usual  massive  manner;  one  would 
lead  him  by  way  of  the  desert  and  the  sea ;  the  other  along 
the  Andean  mountain  range.  If  he  took  the  first,  he  was 
liable  to  perish  of  thirst  and  heat ;  if  the  second,  of  cold  and 
starvation.  He  chose  the  latter  alternative,  and,  accompa- 
nied by  Peruvian  guides,  he  set  out  accordingly,  as  we  have 
seen  in  the  foregoing  chapter.  He  had  with  him  five  hun- 
dred and  seventy  Spaniards  and  fifteen  thousand  Peruvians; 
by  the  time  he  saw  the  green  vales  of  middle  Chili,  he  had 
lost  by  the  way  four  hundred  and  twenty  Spaniards,  and 
five  thousand  Peruvians.  It  was  an  arduous  journey,  and 
made  at  the  least  favorable  time  of  the  year,  when  the  passes 
are  buried  in  snows  and  swept  by  furious  storms  such  as  the 
Spaniards  had  never  before  experienced,  and  for  enduring 
which  their  preparations  were  deficient.  In  their  anxiety  to 
keep  alive,  the  invaders  were  not  likely  to  pay  much  atten- 
tion to  the  features  of  the  scenery  from  the  sssthetic  stand- 
point; but  nowhere  save  among  the  Himalayas  of  northern 
India  does  nature  assume  such  grandeur  and  sublimity  of 
form  and  color.  Beauty  so  stupendous  and  austere  is  hardly 
to  be  described;  but  an  American  traveller,  Mr.  Theodore 
Child,  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  an  Andean  sunrise  (at  a  point 
further  south)  which  is  worth  quoting.  "My  eyes  rested 
in  wonderment,"  he  says,  "on  the  surrounding  snow-clad 
ridges,  above  which  towered  in  the  distance  the  conical  peak 
of  Tupungato.  It  was  a  singularly  impressive  sight.  The 
gloom  of  the  night  still  lingered  in  the  valley;  the  lower 
ranges  of  mountains  seemed  to  emit  darkness ;  the  outlines 
of  the  bowlders,  scrub  a  ad  cactus  plants  were  not  yet  sharply 
defined ;  the  earth  appeared  as  if  it  were  half  asleep,  lulled 
by  the  subdued  roar  of  the  Mendoza  River  rolling  its  torrent 
of  brown-gray  water  along  its  deep  and  tortuous  bed;  the 
only  other  sound  perceptible  was  the  tinkling  of  the  mule- 
bell  and  the  soft  pattering  of  hoofs  upon  gravel  and  pebbles. 
Suddenly  the  summit  of  Tupungato  reddened,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  all  the  topmost  ridges  became  brilliant  and  almost 
transparent,  like  molten  copper  as  it  flows  out  of  the  fur- 


HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

nace.  The  spectacle  of  sunrise  in  the  Andes  was  one  that 
I  contemplated  each  morning  with  ever-increasing  awe,  for 
each  morning  it  seemed  more  wonderful,  more  beautiful, 
and  more  indescribable." 

Of  the  desert  he  remarks  that  it  "has  been  aptly  com- 
pared to  an  immense  chemical  laboratory,  so  great  is  its 
richness  in  salts  of  various  kinds.     In  these  latitudes  the 
coast  rises  rapidly  to  a  height  of  about  three  thousand  feet, 
and  thence  eastward  we  find  the  country  mountainous,  the 
coast  cordillera  continuing  its  course  parallel  with  the  Andes. 
On  the  gentle  slopes  of  the  eastern  cordillera  the  nitrate  beds 
occur  at  a  distance  from  the  sea  of  from  twenty-five  to  fifty 
miles,  and  at  a  height  of  from  three  to  four  thousand  feet 
above  the  sea.    So  then  we  have  in  the  east  the  great  masses 
of  the  Andes,  in  the  centre  a  longitudinal  valley  or  pampa 
resembling  the  dry  bed  of  a  river,   and  on  the  west  the 
gentle  slopes  and  undulations  of  the  coast  cordillera,  where 
the  nitrate  deposits  are  found  along  the  edge  of  the  pampa. 
.  .  .     Passing  Las  Carpas  and  San  Juan,  we  attain  a  height 
of  over  three  thousand  feet.     All  that  we  see  is  sand  and 
rock,  or  a  sort  of  red  conglomerate  strewn  with  bowlders, 
and  loose  flint  or  limestones ;  but  the  outlines  of  the  moun- 
tains are  beautiful  in  silhouette,  the  undulations  of  the  lower 
valleys  have  a  singular  softness,  and  the  brilliant  sunshine 
plays  over  the  interminable  wilderness  of  hill  and  dale,  de- 
veloping in  the  arid  rock  and  sand  a  variety  of  color  that 
replaces  the  effect  of  vegetation,  and  sometimes  even  pro- 
duces the  illusion  of  some  dark  green  growth  which  might 
be  appropriate  in  a  lunar  landscape.     There  are  places  too 
on  the  hillsides  where  Nature's  chemistry  has  painted  graceful 
designs,  as  it  were  arabesques   of  foliated  Gothic  windows, 
with  the  colors  of  green,  violet  and  yellow  oxides,  while  the 
other  brown  hills  are  toned  with  a  velvety  purple  haze  of 
sun-smoke,  soft  as  the  bloom  on  a  plum.  ...     In  the  morn- 
ing it  is  calm;    toward  one  o'clock  a  strong  wind  sweeps 
along  the  valley,  raising  clouds  and  whirlpools  of  dust;  at 
sunset  the  calm  returns,  and  the  brown  hills  assume  the 


CHILI  239 

most  brilliant  colors,  while  the  gray  sandy  pampa  becomes 
tinted  with  pink  and  violet.  After  we  reach  the  upper  table- 
laud  the  absolute  barrenness  ceases  so  far  as  it  concerns  the 
pampa  proper,  where  some  dry  bushes  of  the  acacia  family 
still  grow  with  gray  and  dusty  pertinacity.  In  the  distance, 
over  the  glaring  waste  of  sand  and  scrub,  you  see  the  snowy 
peaks  of  the  Andes,  and  on  the  horizon  of  the  plain  innu- 
merable spiral  columns  of  smokelike  dust  rising  to  a  great 
height.  On  the  other  side  of  the  line  are  the  deep  red- 
brown  slopes  of  the  foothills  of  the  coast  Cordillera,  and 
the  band  of  gray  sand  and  brown  conglomerate  beneath 
which  the  nitrate  lies." 

But  Almagro  and  his  men  had  no  eyes  for  these  things; 
they  were  busy  keeping  watch  for  the  savages  who  ever  and 
anon  swooped  down  upon  them;  and  in  scanning  the  dark 
rooks,  where  the  gales  had  swept  them  bare  of  snow,  for 
traces  of  the  golden  deity  which  they  worshipped.  But 
nothing  of  value  rewarded  them ;  and  the  contrast  between 
the  features  of  this  new  land,  and  the  easy  opulence  of  the 
one  they  had  left  behind  them,  forcibly  affected  most  of 
the  company;  insomuch  that  they  besought  their  leader  to 
take  them  back  to  Cuzco.  But  Almagro  was  an  obstinate 
as  well  as  a  weak  man;  and  though  he  was  at  this  time 
certainly  sixty,  and  possibly  seventy  years  of  age,  he  would 
listen  to  no  arguments  for  retreat.  The  whole  of  Chili  could 
not  be  mountain  summits  and  snow ;  there  were  valleys  fur- 
ther on,  and  to  reach  them  might  mean  boundless  wealth. 
So  on  he  went,  loading  his  baggage  on  such  natives  as  he 
could  capture,  heedless  though  they  perished  by  scores.  On 
one  occasion  a  squad  of  these  unhappy  Indians,  driven  to 
madness  by  the  intolerable  cruelties  practiced  upon  them, 
slew  three  of  their  oppressors;  upon  which  Almagro  inflicted 
upon  them  the  discipline  of  being  burned  alive,  which  proved 
effective,  so  far  at  least  as  those  burned  were  concerned.  As 
they  neared  Copiapo,  about  twelve  hundred  miles  south  of 
Cuzco,  he  rode  forward  with  a  few  horsemen,  and  brought 
succor  from  the  natives  there.  But  for  this  help,  the 


240  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

entire  party  might  have  left  their  bones  among  the  snow- 
drifts. 

Upon  reaching  the  fertile  valleys,  they  were  received  in 
a  friendly  manner,  owing  to  the  presence  with  them  of  a 
personage  of  authority  from  the  Peruvians;  and  an  officer 
was  despatched  on  a  reconnoitring  expedition  still  further 
south.  Paullu,  the  Peruvian,  managed  to  induce  the  na- 
tives to  bring  in  treasure  to  the  amount  of  half  a  million 
ducats,  which  Almagro  distributed  among  his  followers  in 
order  to  check  the  still  strong  tendency  to  retreat. 

The  Chilians  at  this  epoch  were  not  so  far  advanced  in 
the  arts  of  life  as  were  the  Peruvians.  Only  the  northern 
tribes  had  felt  the  influence  of  Peruvian  culture;  the  south- 
erners were  still  in  their  healthy,  primitive  condition.  But 
all  had  arrived  at  the  condition  of  settled  communities ;  they 
cultivated  crops,  they  mined  metals,  and  had  domesticated 
certain  animals.  They  had  a  copious  language,  cooked  their 
food,  made  bread,  and  brewed  a  dozen  kinds  of  spirituous 
liquors.  In  person  most  of  them  were  tall,  strong  and  ac- 
tive, with  a  complexion  of  light  reddish  brown,  sometimes 
approaching  white.  Cities,  in  the  Peruvian  sense,  they  had 
none,  but  lived  in  patriarchal  hamlets,  ruled  by  ulmens,  who 
were  in  turn  subject  to  a  cacique  of  the  tribe.  Each  farmer 
was  master  of  his  own  field ;  there  was  none  of  that  land- 
ownership  by  the  State  which  obtained  in  Peru.  A  people 
with  this  form  of  government  could  be  subdued  only  in  de- 
tail ;  the  conquest  of  one  body  of  them  would  have  no  effect 
upon  others.  They  had  in  them  the  spirit  of  the  mountains, 
and  valued  liberty  more  than  life  or  any  worldly  possessions. 

On  the  other  hand,  their  arms  were  of  the  ineffective 
description,  compared  with  those  of  the  Spaniards,  which 
characterized  all  the  American  tribes.  They  made  cloth 
garments,  which  their  women  adorned  with  embroidery, 
and  dyed  with  vegetable  or  animal  extracts;  they  manu- 
factured a  kind  of  soap;  and  their  utensils  were  of  well- 
fashioned  pottery,  wood  and  marble.  They  had  a  sys- 
tem of  numbering,  and  their  records  were  kept  by  quipus, 


CHILI  241 

after  the  Peruvian  style.  They  sat  on  mats  and  kept 
their  belongings  in  baskets;  they  went  to  sea  in  canoes, 
and  fished  with  fish-hooks;  they  knew  something  of  as- 
tronomy and  physics,  and  had  some  rather  rude  notions 
of  drawing  and  carving.  They  called  themselves  Chil- 
dren of  the  Sun,  and  are  supposed  to  have  worshipped 
the  sun  and  moon;  they  had  the  red  men's  vision  of 
happy  hunting  grounds  after  death,  and  believed  that 
those  who  died  fighting  in  battle  were  certain  of  a  happy 
immortality.  They  were  afflicted,  like  our  own  Puritan 
Fathers,  with  a  potent  belief  in  witches,  whom  they 
stabbed  to  death  with  their  knives;  their  laws  were  not 
many,  but  they  were  strictly  enforced.  Cleanly  they  were 
in  the  extreme,  in  this  respect  offering  a  sharp  contrast 
to  their  invaders,  who  then  as  always  were  remarkable 
for  their  affinity  with  dirt.  They  took  particular  pains  to 
keep  their  magnificent  teeth  white  and  clean,  and  were 
careful  to  remove  all  hairs  from  the  faces  and  bodies.  The 
women  were  dressed  in  woollen  garments  of  a  green  color, 
with  a  cloak  and  girdle ;  the  men  wore  shirts  and  breeches, 
woollen  caps  and  footgear,  and  over  all  capacious  woollen 
ponchos.  Cleanly  and  careful  attire  is  still  a  characteristic 
of  the  Araucanian  Indians  of  to-day. 

The  country  was  thickly  populated,  and  was  well  able  to 
support  a  large  number  of  inhabitants.  The  fertile  valleys 
were  watered  by  more  than  one  hundred  rivers,  and  those 
regions  not  favored  by  nature  were  made  green  by  irriga- 
tion, which  was  an  art  well  understood  and  deftly  practiced 
by  the  natives.  The  climate  resembled  that  of  southern 
California ;  the  rains  were  gentle  and  the  winds  moderate. 
Earthquakes,  however,  were  not  uncommon,  and  there  were 
numerous  active  volcanoes  to  lend  interest  to  the  landscape. 
But  here  was  great  actual  and  potential  wealth  in  agricult- 
ure, manufactures,  and  cattle,  without  burrowing  beneath 
the  surface  of  the  ground.  Had  Almagro  and  his  men  had 
eyes  and  senses  for  anything  but  gold,  they  might  have  set- 
tled in  these  valleys  with  ample  profit  and  advantage. 


242  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

But  gold,  upon  investigation,  though  the  country  was  by 
no  means  destitute  of  it,  was  not  found  in  such  abundance 
as  in  Peru ;  and  news  at  this  time  arriving  that  the  Spanish 
government  had  reported  favorably  upon  Almagro's  claims 
to  Cuzco,  he  finally  resolved  to  return  thither.  But  before 
doing  so,  he  managed  to  incur  the  enmity  of  the  natives  by 
burning  an  ulmen,  his  brother,  and  twenty  others,  for  some 
trifling  offence;  and  in  a  fierce  battle  with  the  Promaucians 
the  Spanish  had  none  the  better  of  the  encounter,  and  re- 
treated. Almagro  made  no  effort  to  wipe  out  the  stain  of 
this  check ;  back  to  Peru  he  went,  and  we  already  know  his 
further  fate.  It  is  to  Pedro  de  Valdivia  that  the  question- 
able honor  of  the  first  resolute  attempt  to  conquer  Chili  is 
to  be  ascribed. 

Valdivia  was  an  able  soldier,  and  not  devoid  of  other 
merits ;  he  is  one  of  the  less  repulsive  figures  of  this  epoch. 
He  was  born  about  the  beginning  of  the  century  near  Es- 
tramadura,  had  served  in  the  Italian  wars,  and  came  to 
Venezuela  in  1534.  He  fought  under  Pizarro  at  the  battle 
of  Las  Salinas  in  1538;  and  hi  1540,  with  Pedro  de  Hoz,  he 
marched  from  Cuzco  with  a  hundred  and  fifty  Spaniards 
and  some  thousands  of  Indians.  He  chose  the  road  along 
the  sea  and  the  desert ;  and  as  his  object  was  not  merely  to 
invade  the  country  but  to  settle  it,  he  took  with  him  a  num- 
ber of  women  and  priests.  At  this  time  he  knew  nothing 
of  the  Araucanians ;  probably  he  would  have  slighted  their 
valor  even  if  he  had ;  for  his  fault  was  over-confidence  in  his 
powers,  and  in  the  ability  of  a  handful  of  Spaniards  to  defeat 
any  number  of  red  men.  He  gained  much  knowledge  from 
hard  experience  in  the  course  of  the  next  fifteen  years,  and 
finally  paid  for  his  education  with  his  life.  He  founded 
and  occupied  his  seven  cities,  but  he  was  unable  to  hold 
them,  or  to  save  them  from  destruction;  and  when  he  per- 
ished, it  was  with  the  bitter  knowledge  that  the  Araucanians 
were  everywhere  triumphant. 

Before  going  further,  it  will  be  well  to  get  some  closer 
idea  as  to  what  these  famous  Araucanians  were.  In  Mr. 


CHILI  243 

Hancock's  "History  of  Chile"  they  are  described  at  some 
length.  From  time  immemorial,  he  says,  they  have  "in- 
habited the  country  lying  south  of  the  river  Biobio,  their 
territory  extending  to  the  vicinity  of  the  city  of  Valdivia, 
and  covering  all  the  region  between  the  Andes  and  the 
Pacific.  The  province  of  Arauco  gives  the  leading  tribe 
its  appellation,  or  rather,  perhaps,  the  province  is  named 
after  the  tribe.  They  divided  their  country  into  four 
political  divisions  running  from  north  to  south,  calling 
each  division  a  uthul-mapu.  The  first  was  named  in 
their  language  the  Maritime  country,  and  comprised  the 
provinces  of  Arauco,  Tucapel,  Boroa  and  Nagtollen;  the 
next — the  plain  country,  comprised  Encol,  Puren,  Repo- 
cura,  Maquegagua  and  Mariquina;  the  country  at  the  foot 
of  the  mountains  included  Marven,  Colhue,  Chacajco, 
Quecheregua,  and  Guanagua;  the  country  of  the  Andes 
— Piremapu — included  all  the  valleys  of  the  mountains  in- 
habited by  the  allied  tribe,  the  Puelches.  They  had  three 
orders  of  nobility" — adds  Mr.  Hancock,  defying  the  wrath 
of  Professor  Fiske — "the  toquis,  who  stood  at  the  head  of 
each  uthul-mapu;  the  apo-ulmenes,  who  governed  provinces 
under  the  toquis;  the  ulmenes,  who  were  the  chiefs  and  un- 
der the  apo-ulmenes.  The  military  system  was  efficiently 
organized.  A  grand  council  determined  upon  war,  and 
elected  a  general-in-chief,  to  whom  all  the  toquis  and  ul- 
menes were  subjected,  and  whom  they  obeyed  during  the 
continuance  of  hostilities.  Envoys  were  then  dispatched 
to  the  confederate  tribes ;  each  toqui  directed  what  number 
of  men  his  uthul-mapu  should  furnish,  and  in  this  way  an 
army  of  five  or  six  thousand  men  could  soon  be  raised.  Be- 
fore proceeding  to  hostilities  a  three-days'  conference  was 
held,  at  which  every  one  was  permitted  to  speak,  and  the 
situation  of  enemies,  condition  of  affairs,  and  necessity  for 
war  were  thoroughly  canvassed.  If  war  were  decided  on, 
the  vice-toqui,  who  had  been  previously  selected,  assumed 
command  of  the  right  wing  of  the  army,  assigned  the  left 
wing  to  an  experienced  officer,  and  then  each  soldier  put  on 


244  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

his  leather  cuirass,  took  up  his  heavy  war-club  or  long  spear, 
and  prepared  to  die  with  his  face  to  the  foe.  Impressed,  like 
the  Saracens,  with  the  idea  that  to  die  in  battle  is  the  highest 
earthly  honor  and  a  sure  passport  to  the  happy  country  be- 
yond, they  advanced  singly  to  combat,  and  shouting  like 
fiends  sought  to  penetrate  the  centre  of  the  enemy's  forces 
in  a  hand-to-hand  encounter.  Their  foes  discomfited,  they 
divided  the  spoils  of  war  and  enslaved  their  prisoners,  some- 
times offering  up  one  or  more  of  them  to  propitiate  their  gods 
of  war,  after  they  had  humiliated-  the  captives  with  all  the 
marks  of  ignominy  that  they  could  devise.  Usually  there 
was  but  one  prisoner  sacrificed;  when  he  was  dead,  the 
chiefs  sucked  a  little  blood  warm  from  the  victim's  heart, 
and  then  his  skull  was  made  into  a  bowl  from  which  wine 
was  drunk  at  a  banquet.  At  the  termination  of  their  vari- 
ous wars  with  the  Spaniards  a  congress  was  always  held  on 
a  plain  between  the  Biobio  and  Duqueco  Rivers,  where  the 
Spanish  president  and  the  vice-toqui  met  in  the  presence  of 
the  armies  and  agreed  upon  articles  of  peace.  The  Arau- 
canians  made  war  a  principal  business,  and  their  youths 
were  early  instructed  in  the  use  of  arms,  were  seldom  pun- 
ished, and  were  applauded  for  lying  and  insolence.  It  was 
a  saying  with  these  Indians  that  chastisement  makes  men 
cowardly.  We  do  not  read  of  their  having  such  grand  mili- 
tary contests  and  chivalrous  initiations  as  the  Incas  provided 
for  their  young  men ;  but  there  were  military  games  in  which 
the  boys  engaged,  chiefly  one  of  the  mimic  siege  of  a  for- 
tress, and  another  having  every  appearance  of  a  battle." 
Such,  as  depicted  by  Mr.  Hancock,  were  the  leading  traits 
of  the  people  with  whom  Valdivia  was  now  to  have  a  great 
deal  of  serious  trouble. 

Valdivia  began  to  meet  with  resistance  from  the  time  he 
reached  Copiapo;  these  provinces  had  been  under  subjection 
to  Peru,  but  had  been  freed  by  the  death  of  Atahualpa. 
Their  lack  of  organization  and  united  action,  however,  made 
it  comparatively  easy  for  Valdivia  to  throw  them  aside;  and 
he  kept  pushing  forward  until  he  reached  the  present  site  of 


CHILI  245 

Santiago,  where  he  determined  to  make  his  first  settlement. 
It  was  full  six  hundred  miles  south  of  the  then  southern 
boundary  of  Peru,  so  that  there  would  be  little  temptation 
for  his  soldiers  to  desert  him  and  return .  thither ;  and  the 
natural  advantages  of  the  site  were  manifold.  Indeed,  after 
nearly  three  hundred  and  sixty  years,  Santiago  is  still  the 
capital  of  Chili,  and  the  most  important  and  handsome  town 
in  it.  "It  lies  hemmed  in  by  mountains,  closing  the  per- 
spective of  every  street,  and  rising  in  grand  silhouettes, 
even  more  beautiful  in  winter  than  in  summer;  for  then 
the  mountains  are  covered  with  a  mantle  of  snow  which 
reaches  to  within  a  short  distance  of  the  plain,  and  ceases 
there  in  a  sharp  line,  marking  the  limit  of  the  temperate  air. 
The  climate  is  delightful;  rain  falls  only  during  the  four 
winter  months;  the  mean  summer  temperature  is  seventy 
degrees,  that  of  winter  fifty-two;  day  after  day  for  weeks 
together  the  thermometer  scarcely  varies,  and  the  sun  shines 
in  a  clear  sky  with  a  constancy  that  fills  the  soul  with  con- 
tentment. The  view  from  the  top  of  Santa  Lucia  on  a 
moonlight  night  is  of  unsurpassed  charm.  The  whole  plain 
extends  before  the  spectator,  with  its  dark  enclosing  moun- 
tains ;  at  his  feet  lies  the  expanse  of  the  town,  with  its  red- 
dish tile  roofs,  its  patios,  from  which  rise  masses  of  foliage — 
the  whole  plunged  in  mysterious  black  permeating  shadow, 
relieved  by  patches  of  silver  sheen  where  the  moonlight 
strikes  the  roofs  and  salient  objects.  To  the  foot  of  the 
Andes  the  vast  plain  stretches  darkly,  and,  to  close  in  the 
perspective,  the  imposing  silhouette  of  the  mountains  towers 
up  like  a  silvery  phantom,  above  which  the  moon  is  radiant 
with  pure  and  dazzling  brilliance.  The  landscape  is  so  ad- 
mirably composed,  so  perfect  is  the  picturesque  arrangement, 
and  the  management  of  light  and  shade  so  ideally  excellent, 
that  it  suggests  how  admirable  is  the  view  of  nature  modi- 
fied by  art ;  it  reminds  one  of  transcendently  beautiful  scene- 
painting." 

Valdivia  began  his  new  town  on  St.  Valentine's  Day, 
1541;  but  as  February  14th  is  also  the  day  of  San  lago,  who 


246  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

is  a  better  known  saint  in  Spain,  it  received  his  name.  It 
was  a  town  of  many  vicissitudes;  but  it  bears  few  traces 
of  them  to-day.  Among  the  first  buildings  to  be  erected 
were  the  cathedral  and  the  palace  of  the  bishop :  such  was 
the  faith  of  the  soldier-builder  in  the  permanence  of  his  set- 
tlement. Upon  the  hill  of  Santa  Lucia  a  fort  was  put  up, 
which  certainly  was  a  more  prudent  act,  from  the  merely 
material  point  of  view,  than  the  consecration  of  the  religious 
edifices. 

In  fact,  the  neighboring  tribes  were  prompt  to  evince 
their  lack  of  neighborliness,  and  news  came  to  Valdivia  that 
they  meditated  an  attack.     With  his  usual  forehandedness, 
he  seized  some  of  the  Mapochinian  chiefs  and  confined  them 
in  his  fort,  and  then  himself  went  at  the  head  of  a  troop  of 
cavalry  to  reconnoitre  the  attitude  of  the  Promaucians,  who 
were  liable,  in  his  opinion,  to  ally  themselves  with  the  former. 
This  was  the  Mapochinians'  opportunity ;  they  cared  nothing 
for  the  lack  of  their  own  chiefs,  but  perceived  the  advantage 
of  the  absence  of  the  captain  of  the  invaders ;  and  down  they 
came  upon  the  new  city.     The  inhabitants  fled  at  once  to 
the  citadel,  where  a  woman,  Inez  Suarez,  by  way,  perhaps, 
of  showing  that  the  presence  of  her  sex  in  the  colony  could 
be  of  benefit  in  more  ways  than  one,  took  a  hatchet  and 
chopped  out  the  brains  of  the  captive  chiefs.     Meanwhile 
the  warriors  of  the  natives  set  fire  to  the  town,  and  reduced 
half  of  it  to  ashes;  and  then  made  repeated  attacks  upon  the 
fort.     The  conflict  raged  from  dawn  to  sunset;  but  Monroy, 
the  commander,  contrived  to  send  a  messenger  to  Valdivia. 
He  came  back  hot-footed,  and,  after  a  desperate  fight,  drove 
away  the  enemy  for  the  time;  but  they  renewed  the  contest, 
and  not  for  days  or  for  months,  but  for  six  mortal  years  they 
kept  up  the  attacks,  until  the  Mapochinians  had  been  deci- 
mated, and  the  Spaniards  were  reduced  almost  to  the  last 
extremit}7.     Valdivia  would  doubtless  have  kept  it  up  until 
no  one  was  left  to  fight,  had  he  not  discovered  a  plot  among 
his  own  men  to  mutiny  and  retire  to  Peru.     He  lost  no  time 
in  cutting  off  the  heads  of  the  ringleaders ;  and  having  thus 


CHILI  247 

cooled  the  fever  of  revolt  by  blooding  it,  he  soothed  the 
anxiety  of  the  survivors  by  promises  of  peace  and  profit  in 
the  immediate  future.  And  as  luck  would  have  it,  a  gold 
mine  happened  to  be  discovered  at  this  very  juncture;  and 
this  instilled  more  determination  into  the  hearts  of  the  Span- 
iards than  either  religion  or  hope  of  glory  could  inspire.  A 
ship  was  sent  to  Peru  for  reinforcements,  and  meanwhile 
the  defenders  buckled  on  their  armor  anew. 

In  addition  to  the  ship,  which  might  get  wrecked,  Val- 
divia  despatched  an  armed  party  by  land,  who  decorated 
themselves  with  gold  trappings,  in  order  to  produce  an  effect 
upon  the  hearts  of  their  kindred  in  Peru  which  the  mere 
summons  of  mortal  extremity  might   fail   to   supply.      At 
Copiapo  this  bedizened  company  was  set  upon  by  natives, 
who  slew  them  all  save  two ;  these  were  to  be  put  to  death 
with  admonitory  tortures.     The  wife  of  the  ulmen,  however, 
found  it  in  her  tender  heart  to  intercede  for  them  with  her 
lord,  after   the    manner   later   made   famous  by   our  own 
Pocahontas ;  and  her  lord  consented,  on  the  somewhat  sin- 
gular condition  that  they  should  teach  his  oldest  son  how 
to  ride.     They  agreed  to  the  stipulation  with  enthusiasm; 
and  then  was  demonstrated  the  difference  between  the  gal- 
lantry of  Captain  John  Smith  and  that  of  Spanish  cavaliers. 
The  latter,  taking  the  young  man  out  into  the  open  plain, 
proceeded  to  acquaint  him  with  the  first  principles  of  holding 
on  with  his  knees.     Then,  watching  their  opportunity,  when 
the  admiring  father  and  mother  were  far  off,  and  the  youth 
wholly  preoccupied  in  his   new  enterprise,   the  chivalrous 
Monroy  stabbed  him  through  the  heart,  and  his  companion, 
Miranda,  having  snatched  a  lance  from  one  of  the  near-by 
attendants,  the  two  heroes  were  soon  out  of  sight  in  the  dis- 
tance.    The  ulmen  and  his  wife  were  fain  to  pick  up  the 
corpse  of  their  son,   and  digest  their  rebuff  as  best  they 
might ;  what  the  father  may  have  said  to  the  mother  on  the 
occasion,  concerning  the  quality  of  mercy  to  Spaniards,  we 
have  no  means  of  knowing.     But  Indians  have  long  mem- 
ories;  and  some  time  after  this  same  tribe  caught  a  party 


248  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

of  Spaniards  at  unawares,  and  slaughtered  them  to  the  last 
man — there  being  forty  vicarious  victims  in  all. 

The  Spaniards  in  Peru,  however,  got  the  news  of  Val- 
divia's  danger,  and  sent  him  forces  by  sea  and  land.     The 
commander  of  the  former,  Pastene  by  name,  after  relieving 
the  siege  of  Santiago,  was  sent  southward  by  Valdivia  to 
explore  the  coast  down  to  the  Magellan  Straits.     That  was 
a  voyage  worth  taking,  and  Pastene  was  practically  the  first 
to  enjoy  it;  for  when  Magellan  went  through  the  Straits, 
a  score  of  years  before,  he  saw  only  the  most  barren  portions 
of  the  region,  and  his  mind  was  fixed  not  on  what  was  before 
him,  but  on  what  lay  beyond.     But  the  long  archipelago 
which  flanks  Patagonia  on  the  Pacific  side  is  one  of  the  most 
picturesque  and  exhilarating  scenes  in  the  world.    Beginning 
at  the  Gulf  of  Penas,  there  is  a  winding  passage  between  the 
islands  and  the  shore  nearly  four  hundred  miles  in  length, 
and  varying  in  breadth  from  five  miles  to  as  many  hundred 
yards.     It  is  an  endless  gorge,  through  which  the  tides  of 
ocean  ebb  and  flow,  and  sweep  with  strong  currents,  while 
on  either  hand  rise  steep,  rocky  mountains,  rugged  and  deso- 
late as  they  came  from  the  creative  hand,  yet  clothed  with 
splendid  verdure,  on  their  lower  slopes,  down  to  the  water's 
edge.      The  peaks  are    about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  in 
average  height;  the  water  is  half  a  mile  in  depth;  the  chan- 
nel opens  out  toward  the  land  in  wide  bays  and  lagoons, 
where  a  ship  may  come  to  anchor  and  traffic  with  the  wild 
Indian  tribes  which  sparsely  inhabit  the  country.     Far  in- 
land, as  the  ship  goes  on,  are  seen  ranks  of  jumbled  and 
irregular  summits,  many  of  them  crowned  with  perpetual 
snows ;  while  mighty  glaciers  slope  downward  to  the  valleys, 
and  push  their  gigantic  burdens  slowly  seaward.     The  air 
is  cold ;  the  water  clear  as  crystal,  so  that  the  dense  growth 
of  seaweeds  is  visible  at  immense  depths;  and  among  the 
weeds  swim  great  fish  of  strange  forms,  and  ever  and  anon 
a  whale  rises  to  the  surface  and  sends  its  feather  of  white 
spray  aloft.     Many  of  the  rocks  are  black  as  coal,  with  white 
seams  running  through  them;    these,  with  the  deep  green 


CHILI  249 

foliage,  the  dazzling  snows,  the  blue  sky,  and  the  mingled 
emerald  and  sapphire  of  the  marine  depths,  make  a  scheme 
of  color  of  unsurpassed  power  and  charm.  Many  of  the 
islands  are  entirely  uninhabited ;  and  everywhere  the  Indians 
are  migratory ;  they  come  and  go  in  their  canoes,  living  on 
fish  and  mussels,  dressing  in  the  scantiest  garments,  and 
exposing  themselves  without  a  shiver  to  the  semi-arctic  tem- 
perature which  makes  white  men  huddle  themselves  in  furs. 
The  huge  stature  of  the  Patagonians,  their  hardy  habits, 
their  savage  customs,  have  often  been  described;  nothing 
could  be  more  desolate  and  seemingly  forlorn  than  their 
condition,  and  it  might  be  supposed  that  life  in  such  circum- 
stances was  hardly  possible.  Yet  the  race  was  vigorous  and 
prolific,  until  the  white  men  tried  to  improve  it;  the  intro- 
duction of  European  clothes  has  caused  a  mortality  which 
will  soon  extirpate  the  wearers.  They  are  being  carried 
off  by  scores,  victims  of  lung  diseases  of  various  kinds,  to 
which  they  had  before  been  strangers.  But  in  Pastene's 
day  such  fatal  attentions  were  as  yet  far  distant ;  the  Span- 
iards came  never  to  give,  but  to  take  away.  And  as  there 
was  nothing  for  them  to  take  from  the  Patagonians,  no  harm 
was  done  on  either  side. 

One  of  the  most  striking  features  of  the  scenery  of  these 
parts  is  the  magnificent  form  and  hue  of  the  clouds  which 
continually  impend  in  the  sky,  and  seem  almost  as  solid  as 
the  remote  mountains,  and  are  even  more  wild  and  stupen- 
dous in  shape.  Sunrise  shows  vast  masses  lying  in  heavy 
layers  over  the  peaks,  black,  dark  gray,  with  edges  of  shin- 
ing silver;  through  a  jagged  rent  in  the  midst  of  them  the 
sky  is  vivid  blue,  and  as  the  sun  approaches  the  horizon 
there  are  gloamings  of  gold  and  up-darting  rays  of  pencilled 
light.  Gradually  the  deep  shadows  that  have  rested  on  the 
lower  lands  are  dispelled,  and  more  and  more  the  molding 
of  the  islands,  the  divisions  of  the  foliage,  and  each  impres- 
sive feature  of  the  mighty  loneliness  are  revealed.  As  day 
fully  dawns,  thin  white  lines  of  cataract  are  seen  falling 
from  the  heights,  between  the  masses  of  dark  green  and 


250  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

yellow  foliage  that  clothe  the  umber  rocks;  blue  ice-fields 
glitter  here  and  there;  the  nearer  hills  are  almost  black 
be'low,  their  upper  parts  covered  with  buff-colored  lichens. 
Seaward  the  islands  stand  out  in  hues  of  indigo,  and  high 
overhead  forever  drift  the  cohorts  of  sombre  clouds  with 
silvery  seams.  As  the  latitudes  further  toward  the  antarctic 
are  gained,  the  foliage  disappears,  but  the  rocks  are  still  rich 
with  many-colored  mosses  and  lichens,  for  the  atmosphere 
is  full  of  chill  moisture,  and  the  heavens  often  descend  in 
furious  rains.  On  shore  there  is  little  earth,  but  the  foot 
sinks  deep  in  decayed  vegetable  matter,  woven  roots  of 
shrubs,  and  thick  low  bushes.  A  few  flowers  of  delicate 
and  exquisite  tints  are  found  among  the  ferns;  and  there 
is  a  species  of  moss  peculiar  to  this  region,  white  and  finely 
fibrous,  like  silver  feathers.  Sea-birds  and  otters  are  the 
only  animals;  occasionally  an  albatross  rises  on  high  with 
steady  wings,  drifting  solemnly  along  the  sky.  In  the 
Straits  themselves  the  wildness  and  irregularity  are  in- 
creased, and  all  nature  seems  more  awful  and  immense; 
this  is  the  unfinished  part  of  the  world ;  even  the  beauty  has 
terror  in  it.  Black  Cape  Froward,  southernmost  point  of 
known  continents,  lifts  its  vertical  front  above  the  sea ;  be- 
yond it  Mount  Victoria  ascends  in  white  sublimity,  swathed 
in  cloud ;  anon,  a  hundred  miles  away,  the  grand  symmetry 
of  Mount  Sarmiento  is  disclosed,  a  triangle  of  snow  floating 
in  mid-air.  Here,  amid  everlasting  cold,  is  the  ending  of 
the  Andes,  whose  northern  ranges  pass  through  the  burn- 
ing zone  of  the  equator.  Passing  further  eastward,  we  see 
the  final  stretches  of  the  steppes  and  pampas  which  extend 
without  a  break  to  the  torrid  forests  of  Brazil  and  the  Ama- 
zon ;  and  we  feel  the  long  roll  of  the  Atlantic  surges.  The 
voyage  is  done. 

It  is  not  probable  that  Pastene,  in  his  cockle-shell  craft, 
penetrated  as  far  as  this;  it  could  not  take  him  long  to  make 
up  his  mind  that  the  country  contained  little  of  interest  to 
Spaniards.  The  voyage,  however,  took  the  better  part  of 
a  year;  and  on  his  return  it  was  found  necessary  to  send 


CHILI  251 

to  Peru  for  more  troops,  for  the  Indians  were  becoming 
more  dangerous  than  ever:  they  had  lately  decoyed  the 
Spaniards  into  an  ambush,  with  a  story  of  a  treasure  of 
gold,  and  having  got  them  just  where  they  wanted  them, 
had  sprung  out  and  killed  them  every  one,  except  only  Cap- 
tain Rios  and  a  negro,  who  told  the  dreadful  tale.  The  In- 
dians had  then  followed  up  their  success  by  destroying  the 
new  arsenal,  and  a  frigate  newly  launched.  But  Valdivia 
was  a  persistent  man ;  he  built  a  fort  to  protect  the  mines, 
and  founded  a  new  city  in  a  good  strategical  position  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Coquimbo,  which  ultimately  became  the  centre 
of  a  thriving  province.  In  the  year  1545  Valdivia  succeeded 
in  persuading  the  Promaucians  to  join  him  in  a  league 
against  the  Araucanians:  by  far  the  most  important  step 
he  had  yet  taken  in  the  process  of  subduing  the  country. 
It  enabled  him,  the  next  year,  to  push  southward  as  far  as 
Quilacura;  but  at  that  point  he  met  with  a  defeat  so  severe 
that  it  compelled  his  retreat  to  Santiago.  More  men  must 
be  obtained  for  the  conquest  of  these  Araucanians.  Val- 
divia, remembering  the  maxim — If  you  want  your  errand 
done,  go:  if  not,  send — started  north  in  person  to  drum  up 
recruits.  He  left  Francisco  de  Villagran  as  his  locum  tenens 
during  his  absence.  Villagran  did  the  best  he  could ;  he  cut 
off  the  head  of  De  Hoz,  who  had  accompanied  Valdivia  to 
Chili,  and  had  been  making  himself  somewhat  obstructive 
ever  since.  Meanwhile  one  of  the  local  tribes  made  a  descent 
upon  the  new  town  on  the  Coquimbo  and  it  disappeared  in 
fire  and  blood ;  but  a  fresh  one,  in  a  somewhat  more  defen- 
sible position,  was  presently  substituted  for  it.  Valdivia, 
after  helping  Gasca  the  priest  to  overcome  Pizarro,  and  re- 
ceiving as  his  reward  confirmation  of  his  title  as  governor 
of  Chili,  and  ample  men  and  supplies,  came  back  ready  for 
more  trouble.  He  marched  two  hundred  and  forty  miles 
south  of  Santiago,  and  on  the  shores  of  the  Bay  of  Penco 
he  founded  still  another  city,  known  to  history  as  Concep- 
cion.  This  was  in  1550;  the  town  was  destroyed,  not  by 
Indians  this  time,  but  by  earthquake,  two  hundred  years 


252  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH   AMERICA 

later;  and  the  present  city  of  New  Concepcion  was  estab- 
lished somewhat  further  south.  But  meanwhile  there  was 
destined  to  be  much  opposition  on  the  natives'  part;  they 
had  not  become  accustomed  to  foreign  rule.  The  Arauca- 
nians,  uniting  with  local  tribes,  made  ready  to  clear  the 
country  of  Spaniards.  An  army  of  four  thousand  Indians 
crossed  the  bloody  Biobio  and  gave  battle  to  Valdivia;  but 
that  stout  warrior  succeeded,  after  a  desperate  conflict,  in 
driving  them  back  for  the  time.  In  the  following  year 
(1552)  he  carried  the  war  into  the  enemies'  country,  and 
penetrating  as  far  as  the  junction  of  the  rivers  Cauten  and 
Damas,  founded  there  another  city  named  Imperial,  which 
was  to  become  the  centre  of  many  Homeric  contests.  Imag- 
ining that  the  work  of  conquest  was  already  done,  Valdivia 
began  to  portion  out  baronies  among  his  followers ;  but  their 
titles  proved  to  be  but  nominis  umbra.  The  Araucanians 
had  not  yet  had  their  say.  The  Spaniards,  however,  were 
permitted  to  advance  as  far  as  the  present  site  of  the  town 
of  Valdivia,  the  sixth  settlement  founded  by  its  namesake, 
and  vigorously  defended  on  account  of  the  gold  mines  found 
in  the  vicinity.  Three  forts  were  also  built  to  protect  the 
line  of  communications  between  this  extreme  southern  point 
and  Santiago.  The  city  of  Angol,  the  seventh  and  last  of 
the  series,  was  founded  in  1553,  about  a  hundred  miles  south 
of  Concepcion.  Valdivia  then  organized  his  military  estab- 
lishment, sent  another  explorer  to  investigate  the  facili- 
ties of  communicating  with  Spain  by  way  of  the  Magellan 
Straits,  and  despatched  Alderete  to  the  Spanish  court  to 
negotiate  for  the  recognition  of  Valdivia  as  perpetual  gov- 
ernor of  the  new  country. 

Whatever  the  attitude  of  Spain  in  the  matter,  the  Arau- 
canians had  yet  to  be  reckoned  with.  There  was  among 
them  a  remarkable  old  Ulysses  named  Colocolo,  who  added 
to  ardent  patriotism  a  wonderful  sagacity  in  both  war  and 
intrigue.  He  travelled  over  the  country  preaching  a  crusade 
against  the  invaders.  A  great  conference  was  held  among 
the  various  tribes,  and  a  chief  named  Caupolican  was,  at 


CHILI  253 

Colocolo's  suggestion,  chosen  commander-in-chief.  This  hero 
was  modest  and  valiant,  a  giant  in  stature,  and  wise  in  coun- 
sel as  he  was  brave  in  battle ;  he  had  but  one  eye,  but  he  saw 
more  with  it  than  others  with  their  two.  His  first  exploit 
was  the  capture  of  the  fort  of  Arauco,  which  he  accomplished 
by  an  unexpected  attack,  compelling  the  garrison,  after  se- 
vere fighting,  to  evacuate  and  retire  to  the  fort  at  Puren. 
The  garrison  of  the  Tucapel  fort  was  in  like  manner  driven 
to  Puren ;  from  which  place  word  was  sent  to  Valdivia  of 
their  peril.  He  started  for  the  seat  of  war  with  two  hun- 
dred men  and  five  thousand  Indians;  he  sent  forward  a 
reconnoitring  party  of  ten  horsemen  under  Diego  del  Oro; 
all  of  whom  were  slain  by  Caupolican,  and  their  heads  sus- 
pended from  trees,  after  the  fashion  taught  to  the  Arauca- 
nians  by  the  Spaniards.  Upon  seeing  this  grisly  fruit,  Val- 
divia's  soldiers  wished  to  go  back;  but  the  veteran  was  still 
confident,  and  would  listen  to  no  craven  councils.  The  two 
armies  came  in  sight  of  each  other  on  the  3d  of  December, 
1553,  and  manoeuvred  for  position.  The  right  wing  of  the 
Araucanians  was  led  by  Mariantu;  the  left  by  Tucapel,  the 
Murat  of  the  host.  At  the  opening  of  the  battle,  Mariantu 
attacked  and  cut  to  pieces  the  Spanish  left,  and  served  in 
the  same  manner  a  detachment  sent  to  their  support.  At 
the  same  time  Tucapel  swept  down  upon  the  Spanish  right. 
The  latter's  artillery  wrought  terrible  havoc  among  the  In- 
dians, and  they  were  thrice  repulsed,  though  without  being 
thrown  into  confusion.  At  the  critical  moment  of  the  fight, 
a  young  man  saved  the  day  for  the  Araucanians.  His  name 
was  Lautaro.  He  had  been  previously  captured  by  Valdivia, 
baptized,  and  made  a  page;  but  he  seized  this  opportunity 
to  escape  from  the  enemies  of  his  country  and  join  his  friends. 
He  called  on  them  to  follow  him  in  a  final  charge;  they 
caught  the  contagion  of  his  valor,  and  collecting  themselves 
swept  the  Spaniards  and  their  allies  from  the  field  with 
awful  carnage.  Valdivia  himself  was  captured ;  he  begged 
hard  for  his  life,  even  promising,  if  he  were  spared,  to  quit 
Chili  with  all  his  followers;  nor  did  he  scruple  to  entreat 


254  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

Lautaro  to  intercede  for  him.  This  the  magnanimous  former 
page  did;  but  in  vain.  The  grim  old  ulmens  knew  too  well 
the  worth  of  Spanish  promises ;  and  disregarding  Valdivia's 
screams  for  mercy,  one  of  them  crushed  his  skull  with  his 
war-club.  And  the  next  day  the  trees  that  grew  in  the  great 
plain  again  bore  Spanish  heads  as  fruit;  and  Lautaro  was 
appointed  Caupolican's  second  in  command.  At  the  council 
which  was  forthwith  held,  it  was  resolved,  in  accordance 
with  the  advice  of  old  Colocolo,  to  make  a  general  attack 
upon  all  the  Spanish  strongholds.  Angol  and  Puren  were 
promptly  abandoned  by  the  invaders,  who  congregated  in 
Valdivia  and  Imperial.  Lautaro  fortified  himself  in. the  pre- 
cipitous mountain  of  Mariguenu,  in  order  to  prevent  possible 
Spanish  incursions  southward.  Of  a  band  of  fourteen  Span- 
ish cavaliers  who  were  riding  from  Imperial  to  Tucapel,  seven 
were  slain  by  the  Araucanian  Lincoyan.  The  inhabitants 
of  Concepcion  were  terror-stricken  at  these  catastrophes. 
Villagran  was  chosen  Valdivia's  successor.  He  made  care- 
ful preparations,  and  advanced  with  a  strong  army  of  Span- 
iards and  native  allies  toward  Mariguenu.  In  a  narrow 
defile  Lautaro  fell  upon  him;  the  Spaniards  tried  to  scale 
the  mountain,  but  were  checked  by  slings  and  arrows,  and 
a  body  of  the  Indians,  falling  furiously  upon  the  Spanish 
cannoneers,  captured  the  guns.  An  attack  was  then  deliv- 
ered upon  the  Spanish  front,  and  it  gave  way,  Villagran 
flying  headlong  with  the  rest  and  barely  making  good  his 
escape.  The  remnant  of  the  Spanish  army  was  pursued 
by  Lautaro  to  the  river  Biobio,  where  the  Araucanians 
paused,  and  the  fugitives  staggered  into  Concepcion.  There 
Villagran  stayed  only  long  enough  to  gather  together  what 
property  he  could,  and  then,  with  all  the  inhabitants,  he  fled 
to  Santiago.  When  Lautaro  entered  Concepcion  the  next 
day,  he  found  nothing  there  but  empty  houses,  which  he 
destroyed.  The  Seven  Cities  were  having  a  hard  life  of  it. 
An  attempt,  some  time  afterward,  to  retake  and  rebuild 
Concepcion  was  prevented  by  the  Araucanians,  who  met  and 
defeated  the  Spaniards  in  the  open  plain  and  again  drove 


CHILI  255 

them  back  to  Santiago.  A  lull  in  the  conflict  was  brought 
about  by  a  terrible  epidemic  of  smallpox  among  the  Indians, 
which  partly  depopulated  several  districts  and  caused  them 
to  take  precautions  against  the  disease  which  they  have  ever 
since  observed.  In  the  next  campaign,  Lautaro  went  against 
Santiago,  while  Caupolican  attempted  the  siege  of  Imperial 
and  Valdivia.  Lautaro  laid  waste  the  country  of  the  Pro- 
maucians,  and  fortified  himself  on  the  Claro;  a  Spanish 
reconnoitring  party  was  surprised  and  cut  to  pieces,  and 
Santiago  was  in  danger.  Villagran,  being  ill,  gave  the  com- 
mand to  his  son  Pedro,  who  was  led  into  an  ambuscade  by 
Lautaro  and  his  army  slaughtered.  But  this  was  Lautaro's 
last  victory ;  for  a  few  days  later,  standing  upon  his  battle- 
ments to  watch  the  approach  of  a  Spanish  party,  he  was 
killed  by  a  chance  shot;  and  though,  in  the  battle  which 
followed,  the  Araucanians  fought  valiantly,  they  were  finally 
overpowered.  The  death  of  Lautaro  was  for  three  days  cele- 
brated by  the  Spaniards ;  and  indeed  his  fall  meant  much  to 
them.  He  had  invariably  defeated  them  in  battle  and  out- 
generalled  them  in  manoeuvres ;  and  at  the  age  of  only  nine- 
teen had  made  a  reputation  as  a  warrior  such  as  any  veteran 
might  envy.  But  he  was  dead ;  and  upon  hearing  the  news, 
Caupolican  abandoned  the  siege  of  Imperial,  which  had  been 
just  on  the  point  of  surrender.  It  was  the  close  of  the  year 
1556. 

In  the  spring  of  the  next  year,  the  son  of  the  viceroy  of 
Peru,  Don  Garcia  Mendoza,  appeared  at  Concepcion  to  take 
over  the  government.  He  brought  with  him  ten  ships  and 
a  number  of  soldiers.  His  first  act  was  to  open  negotiations 
with  Caupolican  with  a  view  to  making  peace  with  the  Arau- 
canians ;  and  upon  the  advice  of  old  Colocolo,  a  polite  answer 
was  returned;  but  both  parties  had  their  knives  up  their 
sleeves.  It  was  not  until  August  that  overt  operations  took 
place.  Mendoza  had  built  a  fort  on  Monte  Pinto,  in  a  com- 
manding situation ;  the  Indians  attacked  it,  led  by  Tucapel, 
who  with  his  own  club  slew  four  Spaniards.  After  a  long 
and  furious  struggle,  the  Indians  were  temporarily  repulsed ; 


256  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

and  soon  after,  being  reinforced  by  cavalry  which  came  by 
the  overland  route,  Mendoza  took  the  offensive.  A  sort 
of  running  fight  ensued,  the  Spaniards  driving  back  the 
Indians,  but  being  constantly  harassed  by  them.  Finally, 
at  Melipuru,  a  pitched  battle  took  place.  The  slaughter  was 
great,  and  neither  party  got  a  decisive  victory;  but  the  In- 
dians again  retreated.  Mendoza  hanged  the  captured  chiefs, 
and  founded  a  city  called  Canete,  in  memory  of  Valdivia; 
Caupolican  attempted  its  capture,  but  was  prevented  by 
treachery.  Mendoza  now  pressed  southward,  and  discov- 
ered the  island  of  Chiloe,  and  other  islands  of  the  archi- 
pelago. Returning  to  Imperial,  one  of  his  lieutenants  suc- 
ceeded in  surprising  and  capturing  Caupolican,  who  was 
forthwith  impaled  and  shot  to  death  with  arrows.  But  the 
son  of  the  old  warrior  was  elected  chief  in  his  place,  with 
the  valiant  Tucapel  second  in  command.  He  marched 
against  Concepcion;  Reynoso,  the  murderer  of  his  father, 
went  to  meet  him  with  five  hundred  men,  and  was  utterly 
routed  and  cut  to  pieces.  Another  attempt  of  the  Spaniards 
to  stop  the  Araucanians'  advance  met  with  a  like  fate.  But 
the  young  Caupolican  was  not  so  successful  in  his  siege  of 
Concepcion ;  and  though  many  Homeric  combats  took  place, 
the  walls  repelled  all  attacks.  The  Spaniards  kept  receiving 
reinforcements  from  Spain  and  Peru,  while  the  Araucanians 
became  decimated.  Caupolican  fortified  himself  in  a  place 
called  Quiapo,  but  was  finally  overthrown  in  an  assault,  and 
his  best  officers,  including  Tucapel  and  old  Colocolo,  were 
slain.  This  victory  confirmed  the  Spanish  hold  on  the  coun- 
try; forts  and  towns  were  built  or  rebuilt,  and  the  first 
bishop,  Marmolejo,  was  ordained  in  Santiago.  He  governed 
his  see  until  1 565.  Villagran  was  now  made  Captain-General 
of  Chili,  and  the  period  of  conquest  was  deemed  to  be  closed. 
The  Araucanians  however  were  as  far  as  ever  from  ac- 
cepting this  view  of  the  situation.  They  organized  another 
army,  gave  it  to  a  new  chief,  Antiguenu,  and  defeated  the 
Spanish  force  under  Villagran's  son  Pedro.  Canete  was 
taken  and  burned.  Villagran  died,  and  Pedro,  succeeding 


CHILI  257 

him,  was  besieged  in  Concepcion.  The  stronghold  of  Arauco 
was  also  attacked,  and  the  Spaniards  driven  out.  Angol 
resisted  the  Indians,  and  in  a  battle  on  the  Bio  bio,  Antiguenu 
was  killed.  The  Spaniards  took  possession  of  the  archipel- 
ago, which  was  at  that  time  well  inhabited  with  a  tribe  which 
bore  physical  resemblance  to  the  Araucanians,  but  which 
had  become  peaceful  owing  to  their  long  residence  apart 
from  the  seat  of  Indian  wars.  Philip  II.  was  now  king  of 
Spain,  and  he  resolved  to  make  a  final  attempt  to  subdue  the 
indomitable  Araucanians.  An  independent  Royal  Audience 
was  established  in  Chili,  and  the  military  command  was  be- 
stowed on  Ruiz  de  Gamboa.  He  went  to  Canete,  where  the 
new  Araucanian  chief,  Paillataru,  was  making  preparations 
for  a  siege.  The  Indians  were  badly  defeated,  and  a  part 
of  their  territory  laid  waste;  and  Gamboa  enslaved  their 
women  and  children.  The  Royal  Audience  was  modified 
so  that  Saravia,  a  fresh  official  sent  out  from  the  inexhaust- 
ible repertory  of  Spain,  administered  the  government  under 
three  departments — that  of  President  of  the  Audience,  civil 
governor,  and  commander-in-chief.  But  Saravia  failed  as 
commander-in-chief,  being  defeated  by  Paillataru  in  1568, 
and  Arauco  was  evacuated  by  the  Spaniards.  Paillataru 
then  attacked  Cafiete,  but  in  a  subsequent  battle  was  de- 
feated by  Gamboa,  who  had  again  assumed  the  military 
command.  This  engagement  was  followed  by  four  years 
of  peace,  welcomed  by  both  parties;  and  the  only  event  of 
note  during  this  period  was  a  severe  earthquake  by  which 
most  of  the  Spanish  cities  were  injured  or  destroyed. 

In  1574  the  Araucanian  chief  died,  and  was  succeeded 
by  a  half-breed,  Alonzo  Diaz,  who  was  defeated  on  the 
Biobio  by  Bernal;  but  a  desultory  war  continued,  in  conse- 
quence of  which  Spain  sent  out  an  Examiner,  who  dissolved 
the  Royal  Audience,  and  put  Quioga  in  control  of  the  local 
government.  He  continued  to  contest  the  Araucanian  terri- 
tory with  its  defenders  for  four  years  more,  when  he  died, 
and  Gamboa  acceded  to  his  title.  Upon  his  death  in  1583, 
Alonzo  de  Sotomayor  was  sent  out  as  governor  from  Spain. 


258  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

He  brought  six  hundred  soldiers  with  him,  and  defeated  the 
Araucanians  in  several  battles  or  skirmishes.     All  prisoners 
captured  by  the  Spaniards  were  foully  mutilated  and  then 
released,  to  inspire  terror  in  their  fellows.     But  the  Arau- 
canians were  only  thereby  stimulated  to  renewed  efforts; 
and  with  an  army  consisting  partly  of  half-breeds  and  rene- 
gade Spaniards,  in  addition  to  their  own  warriors,  they  gave 
battle  to  Sotomayor.     As  usual,  the  conflict  was  stubbornly 
fought;    but  once  more  the  Indians  were  overthrown,  and 
their  chief,  Paynenancu,  executed.     The  Spaniards  had  by 
this  tune  become  so  numerous  in  the  country,  that  they  were 
able  to  put  almost  as  many  men  into  the  field  as  their  adver- 
saries.    But  in  1585  a  new  chief  arose,  and  collected  another 
army.     He  did  such  good  work  against  the  Spaniards  that, 
although  a  technical  victory  was  not  won,  the  Spaniards  left 
the  territory,  and  built  forts  along  the  border.     For  some 
years  the  Indians  had  the  best  of  the  many  engagements 
which  were  fought  in  the  debatable  land.     In  1586  a  new 
element  appeared  in  the  person  of  the  English  admiral  Sir 
Thomas  Cavendish,  who  attacked  Valparaiso  with  three  ships, 
but  without  success.     The  incident,  however,  so  diverted  the 
Spaniards  from  the  operations  of  the  Indians  as  to  enable 
the  latter  to  win  some  minor  advantages.    The  forts  at  Trini- 
dad and  Espiritu  Santo  were  abandoned.    In  1589  a  woman, 
widow  of  a  former  chief,  resolved  to  avenge  her  husband's 
death,  and  assumed  the  leadership  of  the  Puelche  tribe.    She 
carried  on  a  galling  guerilla  warfare,  and  was  careful  to  kill 
ever}'-  Spanish  prisoner  who  fell  into  her  hands.     Janequeo 
was  the  name  of  this  heroine,  the  Boadicea  of  Chili.     An 
army  was  sent  after  her  into  the  mountains,  but  was  beaten 
back.     She  attacked  the  fortress  of  Puchanqui,  defeated  part 
of  the  garrison,   and  killed  their  commander.     Making  a 
stronghold  among  the  mountains  near  Villarica,  she  terror- 
ized the  inhabitants  of  that  settlement.     Finally  a  powerful 
Spanish  force  was  dispatched  to  oust  her  from  her  fastnesses 
at  any  cost;  and  after  inflicting  great  losses  upon  her  ene- 
mies, the  valiant  lady  was  compelled  to  withdraw  into  still 


CHILI  259 

remoter  regions.  But  she  enjoyed  the  satisfaction  of  having 
amply  avenged  her  husband;  and  meanwhile  there  were 
other  chiefs  to  carry  on  the  good  work. 

Under   Quintuguenu  the   Araucanians   encountered   an 
army  of  a  thousand  Spaniards  and  several  thousand  aux- 
iliaries, and  a  great  battle  ensued  for  the  possession  of  the 
Araucanian  stronghold  of  Mariguenu,  among  the  mountains. 
The  greater  part  of  the  auxiliaries  were  slain,  and  many 
Spaniards   were   destroyed;    but  Quintuguenu    was  finally 
killed,  and  Mariguenu  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  who 
celebrated  the  event  by  general  rejoicings  all  over  the  coun- 
try.    But  it  was  still  too  soon  to  look  upon  the  war,  which 
had  already  lasted  as  long  as  the  average  life  of  a  man,  as 
being  over.     In  truth,  the  Araucanians  were  as  far  from 
being   conquered    as   they   had   been  thirty  or  forty  years 
before.     No  offer  of  peace  made  to  them  was  even  seriously 
considered;    they  knew  that  Spanish  promises  are  always 
broken,  and  they  would  not  submit  to  slavery  under  any 
disguise.     It  was  in  vain  that  the  Spaniards  entered  Arau- 
canian territory,  and  drove  the  Indians  from  one  place  to 
another ;  they  kept  returning  like  the  tide,  and  in  every  con- 
flict a  greater  or  less  number  of  Spaniards  fell;  so  that  at 
length  the  Spanish  captain  retreated  to  Santiago,  there  to 
await  further  reinforcements  from   Peru.      The  reinforce- 
ments were  tardy ;  and  Sotomayor  decided  to  go  after  them 
in  person ;  but  he  never  returned.     Spain  superseded  him  by 
Don  Martin  de  Loyola,  who  had  made  a  warlike  reputation 
in  Peru,  and  fancied  he  would  find  no  difficulty  in  disposing 
of  the  Araucanians.     He  assumed  his  office  in  1593;  but  it 
was  not  long  before  he  discovered  that  the  work  before  him 
was  very  different  from  that  at  the  north.     Paillamachu, 
the  Araucanian  chief,  was  an  old  and  wise  man,  with  the 
experience  of  all  his  predecessors  to  guide  him.     He  sent 
two  emissaries  to  Loyola,  ostensibly  to  compliment  him,  but 
really  to  spy  out  his  condition  and  power.     Loyola  adopted 
the  well-worn  policy  of  displaying  his  resources  to  the  best 
advantage,  in  order  to  "impress"  the  barbarian;  but  the 
—  12 


260  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

latter  silently  drew  his  own  conclusions,  and  went  away  as 
resolute  as  ever.  In  the  next  year  Loyola  built  several  forts 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Biobio,  including  one  named  Jesus, 
on  a  defensible  position  on  the  banks  of  that  river.  Pailla- 
machu  ordered  his  lieutenant  Loncothegua  to  take  it;  but 
he  was  killed  after  nearly  accomplishing  his  object,  and 
burning  part  of  the  fort.  Paillamachu  devoted  himself 
thereafter  to  making  incursions  into  the  country  and  gath- 
ering forage;  but  avoided  pitched  battles.  At  length,  hav- 
ing an  adequate  army,  he  descended  upon  the  Spanish 
strongholds,  overthrew  one  or  two  of  them,  and  menaced 
Imperial.  Soon  after  he  attacked  Loyola  himself  and  slew 
him  with  his  army.  Immediately  all  the  Araucanian  prov- 
inces were  in  the  field,  together  with  several  adjoining  tribes; 
Concepcion  and  Chilian  were  burned,  the  other  towns  were 
besieged,  and  Paillamachu  finally  got  back  across  the  Biobio 
with  immense  booty.  This  nearly  brought  the  Spaniards  to 
despair,  and  many  were  in  favor  of  giving  up  the  contest. 
A  new  governor,  Quinones,  was  sent  south  from  Peru,  but 
was  unsuccessful  in  repairing  the  damage,  and  incurred  the 
added  enmity  of  the  Araucanians  by  killing  and  quartering 
his  prisoners.  Valdivia  was  attacked  and  destroyed,  and  its 
inhabitants  massacred ;  the  shipping  in  the  harbor  was  at- 
tacked, and  the  booty  included  two  million  dollars'  worth 
of  property,  four  hundred  prisoners,  arms  and  cannon.  The 
outlook  for  Spain  had  never  been  more  dark. 

Meanwhile  the  English  and  Dutch  ravaged  the  coasts  of 
Peru  and  Chili,  and  plundered  the  islands  of  the  archipel- 
ago. Ramon  succeeded  Quinones,  but  had  no  better  suc- 
cess. Ramon  was  followed  by  Alonzo  de  Rivera,  who  once 
more  fortified  the  Biobio,  but  could  not  recover  the  demol- 
ished cities.  Villarica  and  Imperial  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  Araucanians,  and  Osorno  met  with  a  like  fate.  This 
ended  the  Araucanian  wars  for  a  time;  no  attempt  was 
made  to  rebuild  the  forts  and  cities.  Paillamachu  died  in 
1603,  and  was  succeeded  by  Huenecura.  Meanwhile  a  good 
deal  of  intermarrying  went  on  between  the  Indians  and  the 


CHILI  261 

Spaniards.  Ramon  was  restored  to  office,  and  collected  a 
Spanish  force  of  no  less  than  three  thousand  men,  besides 
auxiliaries.  "With  this  force  Ramon  ventured  once  more 
into  Araucanian  territory  and  founded  another  fort  and 
left  in  it  a  garrison  of  three  hundred  men.  Half  of  this 
number  was  surprised  by  Huenecura  and  demolished,  their 
leader  being  among  the  killed.  The  fort  was  besieged,  and 
the  garrison  fled.  The  campaign  ended  in  the  destruction  of 
Ramon's  army.  In  1608,  the  new  king  of  Spain,  Philip  III., 
established  an  army  of  two  thousand  men  on  the  frontiers, 
and  in  the  next  year  reconstituted  the  Royal  Audience  of 
Chili.  Ramon  died  in  1610,  after  having  won  a  hard-earned 
success  over  the  Araucanians  in  the  marshes  of  Lumaco. 
Huenecura  also  died  of  wounds,  and  was  succeeded  by  Ail- 
la  vilu.  But  in  1612  a  new  element  was  introduced  into  the 
imbroglio  by  the  advent  of  a  Jesuit  priest,  Luis  de  Valdivia, 
who  was  consumed  with  an  ambition  to  convert  the  Indians. 
He  was  placed  by  the  king  at  the  head  of  the  government, 
but  he  appointed  Rivera  his  civil  governor,  and  himself  im- 
mediately entered  into  negotiations  with  a  view  to  establish- 
ing a  treaty  of  peace  with  the  Araucanians.  The  terms  of 
the  treaty  were  that  the  Biobio  should  be  the  boundary  be- 
tween the  two  nations,  neither  being  allowed  to  pass  it  with 
an  army ;  that  all  deserters  should  be  returned  on  both  sides, 
and  that  Christian  missionaries  should  be  permitted  to  preach 
the  gospel  to  the  Araucanians.  The  latter  stipulated  that  the 
forts  of  Arauco  and  Paicavi  should  first  be  abandoned,  to 
which  the  Spaniards  agreed.  But  at  this  interesting  stage 
the  negotiations  were  interrupted  by  a  domestic  incident; 
the  Araucanian  chief,  Ancanamon,  had  married  a  Spanish 
woman;  and  she  seized  an  opportunity  to  escape  to  the 
Spaniards.  He  demanded  her  return,  which  being  refused, 
he  broke  off  negotiations,  and  slaughtered  a  party  of  priests 
and  others  who  had  been  £ent  to  treat  concerning  the  mat- 
ter. Another  term  of  raids  and  reprisals  ensued,  with  no 
conclusive  results  to  either  party.  Spanish  governors  and 
Araucanian  chiefs  succeeded  one  another,  year  after  year; 


262  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

the  operations  now  favored  one  side,  now  the  other,  but  the 
Spaniards  on  the  whole  lost  more  than  did  the  Indians.  It 
was  not  until  1640,  about  a  hundred  years  since  the  out- 
break of  the  war,  that  anything  approaching  a  settlement 
with  the  Araucanians  was  made;  and  the  initiative  came 
from  the  Spaniards.  At  the  village  of  Quillin  the  Spanish 
governor,  the  Marquis  of  Baides,  met  the  Araucanian  chief 
Lincopichion,  both  being  attended  by  a  great  retinue.  The 
treaty  was  ratified  by  speeches,  and  the  sacrifice  of  a  llama. 
The  Spaniards  and  Araucanians  were  mutually  to  refrain 
from  incursions,  and  the  Araucanians  were  not  to  permit 
the  troops  of  other  foreign  powers  to  land  on  their  coasts,  or 
to  furnish  supplies  to  the  enemies  of  Spain.  This  clause 
was  inserted  in  view  of  the  recent  attempts  of  the  Dutch 
to  effect  a  lodgment  in  Chili.  This  compact  was  kept  by 
the  Indians,  in  spite  of  temptations  to  break  it,  for  ten  or  a 
dozen  years,  when  hostilities  broke  out  afresh  owing  to  bad 
faith  on  the  side  of  Spain.  The  Spanish  were  overwhelm- 
ingly defeated  in  1655,  and  during  ten  years  the  power  of 
Spain  in  lower  Chili  was  broken.  In  1665  the  Spaniards 
were  glad  to  make  another  treaty  with  the  Indians,  which 
was  kept  for  half  a  century.  The  invaders,  from  the  first, 
had  gained  much  more  by  their  treaties  than  by  their 
arms. 

And  what  was  the  state  of  Chili  after  a  Spanish  regime 
of  a  hundred  and  fifty  years?  It  was,  by  dower  of  nature, 
one  of  the  richest  provinces  of  the  New  World ;  but  the  ad- 
ministration of  it  by  its  invaders  had  left  it  little  better  than 
a  wilderness.  The  Spanish  population  consisted  of  the  Cre- 
oles (persons  born  in  Chili  of  Spanish  parents,  or  of  parents 
of  Spanish  descent),  and  the  Spaniards  sent  to  fill  the  colo- 
nial offices  from  Spain.  The  former  were  regarded  by  the 
latter  as  an  inferior  class,  and  were  in  all  ways  looked  down 
upon,  insulted,  slighted,  and  oppressed.  No  offices  were  per- 
mitted to  them,  save  in  very  exceptional  instances,  and  they 
were  allowed  no  voice  in  determining  the  laws  by  which 
they  were  ruled.  The  next  class  were  the  mongrels,  or  half- 


CHILI  263 

breeds,  spawn  of  the  inferior  Indian  tribes  with  the  Span- 
iards. They  performed  menial  offices,  and  were  practically 
slaves,  concerning  whose  rights  and  lives  no  one  took  any 
interest;  they  had  not  spirit  enough  to  revolt,  nor  brains 
enough  to  better  their  condition.  Finally  there  were  the 
imported  negroes,  of  whom  the  less  said  the  better,  and 
the  native  Indians,  who  were  addicted  to  drink,  and  with  the 
exception  of  the  Araucanians  were  steadily  deteriorating. 
Such  were  the  inhabitants  of  Chili.  The  country  was  a 
waste,  dotted  here  and  there  with  miserable  towns,  most 
of  which  were  but  villages;  Santiago  itself  had  but  eight 
thousand  inhabitants  of  all  kinds,  and  the  houses  were  little 
better  than  straw-thatched  huts.  Agriculture  was  limited 
to  raising  such  products  as  the  colony  needed  for  its  subsist- 
ence; all  the  energy  of  the  rulers  was  devoted  to  extracting 
the  precious  metals  from  the  mines ;  part  of  this  product  was 
shipped  to  Spain,  to  enable  the  kings  of  that  country  to  carry 
on  their  wars  in  Europe,  and  the  rest  was  looted  by  the 
governors  and  their  lieutenants.  In  short,  Spain  was  using 
Chili  as  she  had  used  all  her  colonies,  and  as  she  continued 
to  use  them  down  to  contemporary  times.  Concerning  such 
an  administration  there  can  be  no  historical  memoranda 
worthy  of  being  related ;  it  was  a  story  of  civil  misery  and 
political  stagnation.  It  has  been  said  that  that  country  is 
happy  whose  annals  are  dull  reading;  the  same  saying  holds 
of  colonies  like  Chili,  which  exist  in  a  monotony  of  unre- 
lieved tyranny  on  one  side  and  soulless  submission  on  the 
other.  Despotism  in  politics  and  religious  bigotry  bad 
quenched  whatever  had  once  been  honorable  in  the  Span- 
ish character,  and  the  nation  had  become  a  race  whose  main 
source  of  revenue  was  robbery,  and  its  leading  aim  the  en- 
slaving of  other  peoples.  But,  as  might  be  expected,  such 
a  policy  was  suicidal ;  and  England  and  Holland  gave  to 
Spain  the  first  staggering  blows  which  were  to  be  followed 
by  reverses  which  ended  in  making  her  the  byword  and 
scorn  of  the  world. 

The  eighteenth  century  opened  with  the  wars  of  the  Span- 


264  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

ish  Succession.  Charles  II.,  last  of  the  Austrian  dynasty, 
died  in  1700,  and  there  was  no  legitimate  successor  to  the 
crown.  Dispute  thereupon  arose  between  Austria  and  France 
as  to  which  should  furnish  the  next  king,  and  the  war  that 
followed  was^  exhausting  and  savage.  It  ended  in  the  ele- 
vation of  a  grandson  of  Louis  Quatorze  to  the  unenviable 
dignity,  with  the  title  of  Philip  V.  But  his  reign  brought 
one  good  result  for  Chili,  and  the  Spanish  American  colo- 
nies generally,  in  that  it  opened  them  to  French  trade,  and 
thereby  greatly  increased  the  legitimate  sources  of  revenue. 
Many  French  settlers  also  came  to  the  new  countries,  and 
Chili  was  the  goal  of  a  number  of  colonists  from  Aragou 
and  the  Basque  provinces,  who  became  an  important  aud 
useful  part  of  the  population.  In  1723,  however,  a  new  war 
with  the  Araucanians  broke  out,  the  cause  being  the  intol- 
erable conduct  of  an  organization  of  Spanish  freebooters 
styled  the  Captains  of  the  Friends,  who  made  use  of  their 
ostensible  office  of  guarding  the  missionaries,  to  tyrannize 
over  the  Indians.  The  Araucanian  chief  Vilumilla  packed 
all  missionaries  out  of  the  country,  and  captured  Fort  Tuca- 
pel  and  Fort  Arauco ;  he  offered  battle  to  the  Spanish  gen- 
eral Aponte,  who  commanded  an  army  of  five  thousand  men ; 
but  the  latter  declined  the  contest,  and  retired.  The  Cap- 
tains of  the  Friends  were  abolished,  and  the  Araucanians, 
having  gained  what  they  demanded,  assented  to  another 
treaty  of  peace.  It  was  more  than  forty  years  before  the 
Spaniards  ventured  to  break  this  peace  again. 

During  the  first  fifteen  years  of  this  period  Chili  continued 
under  the  rule  of  Aponte,  and  under  him,  and  his  successor 
Manso,  several  new  cities  were  founded.  These  cities  served 
to  group  the  people  scattered  through  the  province  in  urban 
societies,  thus  rendering  the  business  of  taxation  easier.  The 
measure  consequently  rendered  Chili  a  desirable  place  to  rule 
over,  and  the  captain-generalship  of  Chili  became  the  pre- 
liminary to  the  still  more  lucrative  office  of  viceroy  of  Peru. 
In  1747  a  university  was  established  in  Santiago,  which 
somewhat  impaired  the  hitherto  exclusive  educational  pow- 


CHILI  265 

ers  of  the  Jesuits.  A  mint  was  instituted  in  1749,  and  a 
currency  of  gold  and  silver  was  coined.  Two  years  later 
another  earthquake  destroyed  Concepcion,  and  the  town, 
when  rebuilt,  found  a  site  six  miles  further  from  the  coast. 
Meanwhile  robbery  was  rife  throughout  the  country,  and 
neither  life  nor  property  was  safe.  Vigilance  committees 
were  organized,  and  a  militia  was  created  to  defend  the 
coasts  against  pirates.  But  at  length  Captain-General  Gon- 
zaga  undertook  to  gather  the  Araucaniaus  into  cities  with 
disastrous  results.  The  Indians  resisted  and  finally  raised 
an  army  and  defeated  the  Spanish  force  under  Gonzaga.  In 
1 773,  after  the  war  had  cost  Spain  a  million  and  a  half  of 
dollars-,  peace  was  made  with  the  Araucanians  upon  the  con- 
dition that  henceforth  the  Araucanians  should  be  permitted 
to  maintain  a  minister  of  affairs  at  Santiago,  after  the  man- 
ner of  other  foreign  nations.  In  other  words,  the  independ- 
ence of  the  tribe  was  acknowledged. 

Charles  III.  abolished  some  of  the  restrictions  which  had 
hindered  the  prosperity  of  the  colony;  but  in  1780  an  attempt 
was  made  by  two  Frenchmen  residing  in  Santiago  to  stir  up 
u  rebellion  and  make  Chili  an  independent  State.  It  was  too 
soon  for  such  a  step,  however,  and  the  Frenchmen  were  ar- 
rested ;  but  the  seed  they  sowed  was  not  lost.  In  1788  Don 
Ambrosio  O'Higgins,  a  man  of  Irish  blood,  was  appointed 
captain-general  by  Spain;  with  whose  accession  we  may 
bring  this  part  of  the  annals  of  Chili  to  a  close. 

The  Spaniards  were  at  that  time  well  settled  north  of  the 
Biobio.  Their  territory  was  divided  into  thirteen  provinces. 
The  captain-general  resided  in  Santiago  and  was  directly 
responsible  to  the  king  of  Spain,  save  in  the  event  of  war, 
when  he  might  be  directed  by  the  Peruvian  viceroy.  In 
addition  to  this  territory  the  Spaniards  held  the  fortress  of 
Valdivia,  the  archipelago  of  Chiloe,  and  the  island  of  Juan 
Fernandez,  off  the  coast.  There  were  four  subordinate  gov- 
ernors under  the  cap  tain- general,  exercising  their  functions 
over  Chiloe,  Valparaiso,  Valdivia  and  Juan  Fernandez. 
There  were  three  chief  Tribunals,  of  Audience,  Finance  and 


HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

Commerce,  presided  over  by  judges  with  high  salaries.  The 
provinces  were  governed  by  corregidors  appointed  by  the 
captain-general;  their  pay  was  in  fees,  leading  to  many 
abuses.  The  inhabitants  were  divided  into  upward  of  fifteen 
thousand  militia  troops  in  Santiago  and  Concepcion,  and  in 
addition  there  was  a  force  of  about  two  thousand  regulars. 
Negro  slavery  existed,  but  never  throve  abundantly;  the 
peasantry  were  a  healthy  and  robust  race,  and  had  consider- 
able comparative  freedom.  Their  dress  and  language  was 
largely  influenced  by  the  Araucanians.  Wealthy  citizens 
were  fond  of  display,  and  imitated  European  fashions.  The 
country  was  divided  into  the  dioceses  of  Santiago  and  Con- 
cepcion, and  was  overrun  with  monks  of  various  orders;  but 
in  1767  an  order  to  expel  the  Jesuits  was  promulgated;  they 
possessed  at  that  time  immense  wealth,  and  were  powerful 
political  intriguers.  They  were  evicted  from  all  their  hold- 
ings, and  their  property  was  confiscated. 

The  total  population  of  Chili  at  the  end  of  the  century 
was  about  half  a  million,  mostly  Spanish  or  Spanish-Indian, 
but  containing  also  many  French,  English  and  Italians. 
There  was  little  internal  commerce ;  outside  commerce  was 
beginning  to  assume  some  importance,  and  ships  were  build- 
ing for  that  purpose.  During  the  century  and  a  half  since 
Almagro  invaded  Chili,  up  to  the  accession  of  O'Higgins, 
there  had  been  sixty-one  captains-general  and  provisional 
governors  of  the  country,  according  to  the  following  list: 

Pedro  de  Valdivia,  Pedro  de  Viscarra, 

Francisco  de  Villagran,  Francisco  de  Quinones, 

Garcia  Hurtado  de  Mendoza,  Alonzo  Garcia  Ramon, 

Roderigo  de  Quiroga,  Alonzo  de  Rivera, 

Villagran  (2d  time),  Ramon  (2d  time), 

Quiroga  (2d  time),  Luis  Merlo  de  la  Fuente. 

Martin  Ruiz  de  Gamboa,  Juan  de  Xara  Quemada, 

Melchor  Bravo  de  Saravia,  Rivera  (2d  time), 

Quiroga  (3d  time),  Fernando  Talaveranno. 

Gamboa  (2d  time),  Lopez  Ulloa  y  LemuS; 

Alonzo  de  Sotomayor,  Cristovel  de  la  Cerda. 

Martin  Onez  de  Loyola,  Pedro  Sorez  de  Ulloa, 


CHILI 


267 


Francisco  de  Alva  y  IToruena, 
Luis  Fernandez  de  Cordova  y 

Arce, 

Francisco  Laso  de  la  Vega, 
Francisco  de  Zuniga, 
Martin  de  Muxica, 
Alonzo  de  Cordova  y  Figueroa, 
Antonio  de  Acuna  y  Cabrera, 
Pedro  Portale  Casanate, 
Oiego  Gonzales  Montero, 
Angel  de  Pereda, 
Francisco  de  Meneses, 
Marquis  de  Navamorquende, 
Montero  (2d  time), 
Juan  de  Henriquez, 
Jose  de  Garro, 
Tomas  Martin  de  Poveda, 
Francisco  Ibanez  de  Peralta, 


Juan  Andrez  de  Ustariz, 
Don  Jose  de  Santiago  Concha, 
Gabriel  Cano  de  Aponte, 
Francisco  Sanchez  de  la  Bar- 

reda, 

Manuel  de  Salamanca, 
Jose  de  Maaso, 
Francisco  de  Obando, 
Domingo  Ortez  de  Rosas, 
Manuel  Amat  y  Junient, 
Felix  de  Berroeta, 
Antonio  Guill  y  Gonzaga, 
Juan  de  Balmaseda, 
Javier  de  Mprales, 
Agustin  de  Jauregui, 
Tomas  Alvarez  de  Acevedo, 
Ambrosio  de  Benavides, 
Acevedo  (3d  time). 


268  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 


V 

MORE  SPANISH  CIVILIZATION 

WE  will  now  take  a  summary  view  of  the  other  Span- 
ish provinces  in  America  before  the  Revolution 
which,  in  the  beginning  of  this  century,  finally 
resulted  in  freeing  all  save  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico  from  Span- 
ish rule.  After  the  Conquest,  there  were  nine  distinct  gov- 
ernments in  the  Isthmus  and  in  South  America;  each  was 
independent  of  the  others,  though  all  were  based  upon  similar 
principles.  Of  these  nine,  four  were  viceroyalties — Mexico, 
Peru,  La  Plata,  and  New  Granada.  The  remaining  five 
were  captain -generalships;  they  were  Yucatan,  Guatemala, 
Chili,  Venezuela,  and  Cuba.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
New  Granada  embraced  the  territory  now  called  the  State 
of  Colombia,  having  expanded  from  the  original  region  round 
about  the  highlands  of  Bogota.  From  1564  to  1718  New 
Granada  was  ruled  by  colonial  presidents;  in  1710  the  pres- 
ent Ecuador  (then  called  Quito)  was  annexed  to  it;  but  this 
union  was  dissolved  twelve  years  later.  The  viceroy alty  of 
Peru  was  the  real  kingdom  of  Spain  in  the  West.  Its  con- 
quest led  to  those  of  Chili,  Charcas  (now  called  Bolivia),  and 
Quito,  or  Ecuador;  and  the  successive  viceroys,  after  Pizarro, 
controlled  these  countries  through  their  Audiences,  and 
presidents  or  captains-general.  After  a  time,  there  were 
added  to  the,.  Peruvian  viceroyalties  the  colonies  of  New 
Granada,  Panama  and  Paraguay,  the  latter  including  all 
the  Platine  region;  so  that  in  the  seventeenth  and  in  the 
beginning  of  the  eighteenth  centuries,  Peru's  government 
controlled  in  effect  the  whole  of  the  Isthmus  and  of  South 
America;  the  several  Audience  districts  being  Lima,  the 
capital  of  Peru,  Charcas,  Buenos  Ayres,  Santiago  de  Chili, 
Quito,  Bogota,  and  Panama.  The  viceroy  was  appointed 


MORE    SPANISH    CIVILIZATION  269 

directly  by  the  Spanish  crown;  he  was  president  of  the 
Audience  at  Lima,  was  supreme  in  civil  and  military  affairs, 
and  received  a  salary  of  thirty  thousand  ducats,  which,  how- 
ever, represented  but  a  small  part  of  the  money  which  he 
derived,  in  ways  more  or  less  illegitimate,  from  his  position. 
Not  since  the  time  of  the  great  kings  of  Asia  in  early  historic 
eras  has  there  been  any  instance  of  rulers  so  absolute  and 
uncontrolled,  and  who  so  abused  for  their  own  ends  the 
privileges  granted  them,  as  the  viceroys  of  Peru.  All  the 
luxury  that  earth  could  give,  they  had;  and  the  conduct  of 
each  one  of  them  deserved  nothing  less  than  the  gallows. 
It  would  be  hardly  possible  to  exaggerate  the  magnificence, 
the  depravity  and  the  corruption  of  their  rule;  but  the  story 
is  not  worth  telling,  for  the  moral  of  one  reign  is  the  moral 
of  all — the  moral  of  all  human  tyranny,  rapacity  and  cruelty.' 
In  1718  New  Granada  was  completely  separated  from  Peru; 
the  viceroyalty  of  La  Plata  reduced  Peru  to  Peru  properly 
so  called,  Chili,  and  Quito;  but  the  last  two  were  controlled 
by  Peru  only  in  matters  military,  and  in  the  treasury  depart- 
ment. This  state  of  things  continued  until  the  Revolution. 

Arbitrary  though  the  viceroys  were  to  all  practical  intents 
anl  purposes,  they  were  under  certain  nominal  restrictions. 
The  Royal  Audiences  were  nominated  by  the  Crown,  and 
were  supposed  to  be  independent;  the  municipalities  and  the 
corporations  or  guilds  had  certain  prescriptive  privileges. 
But  as  the  aim  of  all  alike  was  to  fill  their  pockets,  it  can 
easily  be  understood  that  compromises  were  made  between 
them  by  which  all  were  satisfied  at  the  expense  of  the  people, 
who  were  without  any  available  rights  whatever.  The  clergy 
formed  the  only  real  rivals  to  the  political  estate;  they  were 
numerous  and  rich,  and  their  influence  over  a  superstitious 
laity  was  naturally  great;  but  when  the  Jesuits  were  ex- 
pelled, this  influence  was  for  the  most  part  destroyed.  The 
colonial  system  of  Spain  was  a  type  of  a  vicious  system  of 
government,  especially  adapted  to  protect  abuses  and  oppres- 
sions. The  plight  of  the  white  inhabitants  was  bad  enough; 
but  it  was  freedom  and  security  compared  with  that  of  the 


270  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

Indians,  who  were  beasts  of  burden,  and  were  hardly  per- 
mitted to  own  the  rags  that  covered  them.  Whether  they 
were  called  slaves,  or  were  said  to  be  emancipated,  made  no 
perceptible  difference  in  their  condition;  they  were  taxed 
down  to  their  last  shred  of  property,  and  they  could  be  forced 
to  work  from  morning  till  night  all  the  year  round  at  the 
pleasure  of  their  lords.  They  were  suffered  neither  to  buy 
nor  to  sell ;  and  indeed  the  wrongs  they  were  obliged  to  en- 
dure, attested  by  Spanish  chroniclers  themselves,  appear 
hardly  credible,  though  the  like  have  never  ceased  to  exist 
wherever  Spain  had  power  to  inflict  them.  On  all  sides 
Spaniards  in  America  rose  to  affluence  with  or  without  sal- 
aries; and  priests  rivalled  laymen  in  robbery  and  inhuman- 
ity. During  many  generations  Spain  retained  the  whole 
trade  of  the  colonies,  and  safe-guarded  her  monopoly  with 
severe  penalties.  No  books  were  allowed  to  be  imported 
except  books  of  Roman  Catholic  devotion.  The  sciences 
were  tabooed;  and  American-born  Spaniards  were  not  per- 
mitted to  visit  Europe,  lest  they  should  learn  there  things 
which  were  forbidden  at  home.  At  home  must  they  stay, 
where  the  priests  filled  their  minds  with  bigotry  and  the 
terrors  of  superstition.  All  offices,  as  we  have  already  re- 
marked, were  reserved  for  persons  born  in  Spain,  and  sent 
out  thence  to  fill  them.  Thus  was  established  a  class  of  men 
distinct  in  all  ways  from  the  native  population,  and  whose 
interests  were  hostile  to  theirs.  It  was  a  privileged  caste, 
who  came  out  only  to  extort  money,  and  whose  roots  were 
in  the  mother  country.  At  best,  the  people  were  only  allowed 
certain  necessary  rights  in  return  for  service  and  obedience. 
Their  condition  was  hardly  to  be  distinguished  from  what 
we  should  consider  slavery.  They  were  robbed,  but  to  this 
robbery  was  given  the  name  of  government  requisitions. 
By  this  means,  an  enormous  amount  of  wealth  was  poured 
into  Spain;  but  instead  of  being  prudently  invested  there, 
it  was  squandered  in  wars  and  frivolity,  under  the  belief 
that  the  resources  of  the  colonies  were  inexhaustible.  For 
a  creole  to  object  to  any  phase  of  the  despotism  under  which 


MORE    SPANISH    CIVILIZATION  271 

he  groaned  was  to  sentence  himself  to  death.  Among  the 
widespread  corruption  of  the  priests  there  were  occasional 
exceptions — men  who  desired  the  good  of  the  people,  and 
even  attempted  something  toward  their  relief;  but  their 
efforts  were  sporadic  and  ineffective;  and  as  a  rule  the 
tyranny  of  ecclesiasticism  was  as  rigorous  as  that  of  the 
state.  The  assumption  was  that  America  was  the  gift  of 
the  Holy  See  to  Spain,  and  that  the  Spanish  kings  ruled 
by  right  divine.  Whoever  demanded  justice  in  contradiction 
of  the  royal  authority  was  guilty,  ipso  facto,  of  treason  and 
heresy. 

But  the  endurance  even  of  Spanish  American  Creoles  is 
limited,  wide  though  the  limits  be.  After  more  than  two 
hundred  years,  they  revolted;  but  it  may  be  doubted  whether 
they  would  have  nerved  themselves  to  the  act,  had  not  the 
state  of  Europe,  disorganized  by  the  whirlwind  campaigns 
of  Napoleon,  almost  made  the  act  compulsory.  Moreover, 
the  way  had  been  shown,  and  the  hint  given,  many  years 
before,  by  the  struggle  against  oppression  of  the  descendant 
of  the  line  of  the  ruling  Incas  themselves — of  him  who  is 
styled  in  history  Tupac  Amaru.  His  story  and  his  fate  are 
worth  recording. 

The  ancestry  of  the  man  was  noble.  It  takes  us  back 
to  the  region  of  legend  and  mystery.  The  Inca  tribe,  as  we 
have  seen,  was  the  leading  tribe  of  the  Peruvians,  and  its 
chief  family  furnished  the  rulers  of  the  country.  Of  the 
origin  of  the  Peruvians  themselves,  before  their  advent  to 
South  America,  nothing  is  known,  and  way  is  thus  afforded 
for  all  manner  of  poetical  and  extravagant  hypotheses. 
Among  these,  the  most  striking  is  that  which  identifies 
them  with  wandering  Israelites  who  crossed  the  Pacific 
from  Armenia.  In  support  of  this  notion,  many  curious 
similarities  are  pointed  out  in  the  customs  and  religious  rites 
of  the  two  peoples.  "Like  the  Jews,"  say  Rivero  and 
Tschudi,  in  their  "Peruvian  Antiquities,"  "these  Indians 
offer  their  first  fruits;  they  keep  their  new  moons,  and  the 
feast  of  expiation  at  the  end  of  September  or  the  beginning 


HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

of  October;  they  divide  the  year  into  four  seasons,  corre- 
sponding with  the  Jewish  festivals.  The  brother  of  a  de- 
ceased husband  receives  his  widow  into  his  house  as  a  guest, 
and  after  a  suitable  time  regards  her  as  his  lawful  consort. 
There  is  also  much  analogy  in  the  ceremonies  of  purification, 
the  use  of  the  bath,  the  ointment  of  bear's  grease,  fasting, 
and  the  manner  of  prayer.  The  Indians  likewise  abstain 
from  the  blood  of  animals,  as  also  from  fish  without  scales ; 
they  regard  certain  quadrupeds  as  unclean,  and  also  certain 
birds  and  reptiles ;  and  they  are  accustomed  to  offer  as  holo- 
causts the  firstlings  of  the  flock.  Some  allow  marriage  only 
with  members  of  their  own  tribe  or  lineage.  But  what  most 
fortifies  opinion  as  to  the  Hebrew  origin  of  the  American 
tribes  is  a  species  of  Ark,  seemingly  like  that  of  the  Old 
Testament.  This  the  Indians  take  with  them  to  war.  It  is 
never  permitted  to  touch  the  ground,  but  rests  upon  stones 
or  pieces  of  wood;  and  it  is  deemed  sacrilege  and  unlawful 
to  open  it  or  look  into  it.  The  priests  scrupulously  guard 
the  sanctuary,  and  the  high-priest  carries  on  his  breast  a 
white  shell  adorned  with  precious  stones,  which  recalls  the 
urim  of  the  Jewish  high-priest,  of  whom  we  are  also  re- 
minded by  a  band  of  white  plumes  on  the  forehead."  Sev- 
eral philological  reasons  are  also  adduced  in  support  of  this 
theory ;  but  after  listening  to  all  the  testimony,  we  are  forced 
to  the  conclusion  that  there  is  more  poetry  and  ingenuity  in 
its  advocates  than  scientific  conscience.  It  is  easy  to  detect 
parallels  and  similitudes,  and  to  group  them  together  until 
they  appear  formidable ;  but  nothing  is  said  of  the  innumer- 
able dissimilarities,  which  render  the  enterprise  of  identify- 
ing the  two  races  practically  hopeless.  Montesinos,  the  Span- 
iard, claims  to  have  found  the  Mines  of  King  Solomon  in  the 
New  World,  and  discovers  traditions  of  the  Deluge  among 
the  Peruvians.  Other  writers  have  tried  to  show  that  the 
first  Inca,  Manco  Capac,  and  the  Mexican  deity,  Quetzalcoatl, 
were  Buddhist  priests,  travelling  as  missionaries.  And  a 
contemporar}T  investigator  professes  to  have  found  in  Cen- 
tral America  the  site  of  the  Garden  of  Eden,  and  traces 


MORE    SPANISH    CIVILIZATION  273 

of  the  property  of  Adam   and  Eve  after  their  expulsion 

thence. 

Be  all  that  as  it  may,  there  is  no  question  that  the  ruling 
Incas  were  a  remarkable  and  ancient  race,  and  that  their 
destiny  was  a  high  one.  One  of  their  blood,  called  Garci- 
lasso  de  la  Vega,  describes  in  gorgeous  language  the  ap- 
purtenances of  the  royal  domain.  "In  their  gardens  and 
orchards,"  he  says,  "were  planted  all  the  fine  and  beautiful 
trees  and  sweet-smelling  plants  of  the  kingdom,  which  mod- 
els they  imitated  most  perfectly  in  gold  and  silver,  with  their 
leaves,  flowers  and  fruits ;  some  seemed  about  to  bud,  others 
were  half-matured,  others  again  entire  and  perfect.  They 
also  made  counterfeit  resemblances  of  various  species  of 
corn,  with  leaves,  ear  and  stem,  and  with  roots  and  flowers; 
the  fibres  which  are  found  in  the  ear  and  stem  were  of  gold, 
and  the  rest  silver,  soldered  together.  The  same  difference 
was  made  in  other  plants,  so  that  the  flower  or  whatever 
other  part  inclined  to  yellow  was  imitated  in  gold,  the  rest 
in  silver.  There  were  also  to  be  seen  animals,  large  and 
small,  cast  in  gold  and  silver,  such  as  rabbits,  lizards, 
snakes,  butterflies,  foxes,  and  mountain-cats;  also  birds  of 
all  kinds,  some  perched  in  trees  as  if  singing,  others  flying 
to  and  fro  and  sucking  honey  from  the  flowers.  There  were 
also  deer,  lions,  tigers,  and  all  other  creatures  which  the 
country  produced,  each  in  its  proper  place,  true  to  nature 
as  the  reality.  In  many  houses  were  baths  with  large  jars 
of  silver  and  gold,  from  which  water  was  poured;  and 
where  there  were  natural  hot  baths  there  were  also  recep- 
tacles of  great  splendor  and  richness.  Among  other  dis- 
plays of  wealth,  were  collections  of  billets  of  wood  imitated 
in  gold  and  silver,  as  if  deposited  to  be  used  in  the  service 
of  the  house." 

This  must  suffice  for  Senor  Garcilasso,  who,  if  he  be  not 
telling  sober  facts,  has  a  fine  tropical  imagination ;  and  the 
gold  woodpile  and  kindlings  cap  a  fine  climax.  The  whole 
conception  reminds  one  of  the  old  myths  of  Midas,  who  went 
about  turning  all  his  belongings  into  gold,  until  at  last  he 


274  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

happened  to  lay  his  gold-engendering  hands  on  his  own 
favorite  daughter,  who  straightway  became  a  charming 
golden  image,  true  to  life,  but  quite  lifeless  nevertheless. 
As  for  the  golden  and  silver  vegetables  and  animals  of  the 
Incas,  we  must  take  Garcilasso's  word  for  them;  for  of 
course  the  Spaniards  did  not  suffer  them  long  to  retain  such 
fantastic  anjl  unpractical  shapes,  but  threw  them  into  the 
melting  pot  forthwith,  and  brought  them  out  in  the  shape  of 
bars  suitable  for  the  mint.  In  fact,  no  one  except  Solomon 
and  the  Incas  ever  seems  to  have  looked  upon  the  precious 
metals  as  good  for  anything  but  coining ;  and  this  may  serve 
as  an  additional  argument,  if  one  more  be  needed,  to  confirm 
us  in  our  belief  that  the  Jews  and  the  Incas  are  one. 

The  line  of  the  historical  lucas,  beginning  with  Manco 
Capac,  numbers  fourteen,  down  to  and  including  the  illegit- 
imate Atahualpa,  murdered  by  Pizarro.  Manco  Capac  II. 
was  a  creature  of  the  Spaniards,  somewhat  after  the  fashion 
of  the  present  rajahs  and  maharajahs  of  British  India.  He 
was  succeeded  by  his  three  sons,  the  last  of  whom,  Tupac 
Amaru,  was  beheaded  in  Cuzco  in  1571  by  order  of  Toledo, 
the  fifth  Spanish  viceroy.  Tupac  Amaru  the  younger,  of 
whose  adventures  we  are  now  to  tell,  was  the  fifth  in  descent 
from  this  beheaded  prince,  and  upon  him  was  bestowed  the 
respectable  Spanish  name  of  Jose  Gabriel  Condorcanqui. 
He  got  a  college  education  at  Cuzco,  learned  the  Spanish 
language,  and  generally  approved  himself  a  youth  of  parts 
and  intelligence.  But  he  was  not  prevented  by  his  change 
of  name  from  remembering  what  blood  flowed  in  his  veins, 
or  from  secretly  harboring  thoughts  of  rebellion  against  the 
task-masters  who  were  grinding  down  his  countrymen.  He 
had  some  property,  and  a  sufficient  income,  permitted  him 
by  Spain  in  consideration  of  the  fact  that  the  whole  of  Peru 
rightly  belonged  to  him.  But  when  he  pleaded  the  cause  of 
his  compatriots  before  the  priests  and  officers,  they  turned  a 
deaf  ear  to  him,  or  intimated  that  he  was  setting  out  upon 
a  road,  the  end  of  which  was  apt  to  lead  to  the  scaffold. 

When  he  was  twenty  years  of  age,  he  succeeded  to  the 


MORE    SPANISH    CIVILIZATION  275 

chieftainship  of  his  tribe  in  the  mountain  province  of  Tun- 
gasuca;  in  that  comparative  solitude  the  thoughts  of  revo- 
lution could  be  cherished  undisturbed.  And  to  him,  as  to 
so  many  other  eminent  red  men,  both  north  and  south  of  the 
equator,  came  the  idea  of  uniting  all  the  tribes  in  one  great 
effort  for  freedom.  It  is  singular  that  this  idea  should  have 
come  to  several  Indians,  at  long  separated  intervals  of  place 
and  time,  though  all  alike  must  have  known  that  there  was 
no  hope  of  uniting  Indians,  by  any  bond  which  would  insure 
permanent  co-operation ;  the  sense  of  race  homogeneity  being 
a  product  of  a  more  advanced  civilization  than  that  to  which 
they  had  attained.  In  New  England  the  league  of  King 
Philip  was  but  of  brief  continuance,  and  the  same  may  be 
said  of  that  of  Pontiac;  but  the  Indian  tribes  involved  in 
those  rebellions  were  far  better  and  more  determined  fighters 
than  were  the  Peruvians  to  whom  Tupac  Amaru  appealed. 
The  latter,  meanwhile,  did  whatever  good  he  personally 
could ;  out  of  his  means  he  gave  help  to  many,  and  proved 
'  by  practical  deeds  of  beneficence  that  the  wrongs  and  suf- 
ferings of  others  were  to  him  as  his  own.  Personally  he 
was  a  man  of  serious  and  impressive  deportment,  with  a 
sense  of  the  moral  dignity  of  his  position,  and  of  his  moral 
responsibilities. 

Arguments  and  entreaties  proving  barren  of  result, 
Amaru  resolved  to  act;  and  he  began  his  campaign  by 
arresting  the  governor  of  Tinta,  a  place  near  Luna,  who 
had  made  himself  especially  odious  by  his  cruelty  and  tyr- 
anny. This  man  was  taken  to  Tungusaca  and  there  put 
to  death;  and  the  Indians  of  the  neighborhood,  learning  of 
this  execution,  and  hoping  that  the  time  was  come  for  free- 
dom, gathered  round  the  son  of  the  Incas  and  formed  them- 
selves into  a  sort  of  army.  As  Amaru  advanced  from  his 
mountain  home,  this  army  grew,  and  by  the  time  he  reached 
Cuzco  he  had  followers  enough  to  frighten  the  Spaniards  of 
that  town  into  surrender.  The  Spanish  factories  were  filled 
with  Indian  workmen ;  these  he  liberated,  and  abolished  the 
"mita,"  or  system  of  forced  labor.  It  seemed  for  a  while 


276  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

as  if  everything  was  coining  his  way;  and  the  Spanish  offi- 
cials, while  making  their  preparations  to  oppose  him,  sent 
emissaries  with  smooth  words  to  open  negotiations  and  throw 
him  off  his  guard.  He  received  these  persons  courteously, 
stated  his  wishes  and  intentions,  and  issued  proclamations 
(in  the  production  of  which  barbarous  revolutionists  or  rebels 
have  always  been  especially  fertile),  describing  the  wrongs 
under  which  the  Indians  suffered,  and  calling  upon  them  to 
join  him  for  emancipation.  The  whole  country  was  stirred, 
and  the  outlook  for  Spain  began  to  be  more  serious  than  the 
Spaniards  had  at  first  anticipated.  The  viceroy  was  obliged 
to  consider  his  position.  Of  course  the  rebels  greatly  out- 
numbered the  Spaniards ;  but  Amaru  had  betrayed  no  bloody 
designs;  his  utterances  showed  that  he  hoped  to  settle  every- 
thing by  peaceful  means.  Therefore  the  Spaniards  inferred 
that  he  had  no  heart  for  battle;  and  the  viceroy,  hoping  to 
intimidate  him,  sent  him  a  fierce  defiance,  refusing  to  make 
any  terms  with  him,  and  only  vouchsafing  the  remark  that 
if  he  surrendered  without  further  delay,  some  of  the  refine- 
ments of  torture  awaiting  him  might  be  mitigated.  Amaru 
was  thus  placed  in  a  position  where  he  had  little  to  lose  and 
everything  to  gain  by  fighting;  and  his  rabble  now  num- 
bered some  two  hundred  thousand  men.  They  were  met 
by  a  small  but  well-drilled  Spanish  force,  and  in  the  battle 
which  ensued  there  was  never  any  doubt  as  to  which  party 
would  win.  The  Indians  were  utterly  defeated,  and  Tupac 
Amaru  and  his  family  were  taken  prisoners. 

All  was  now  ready  for  one  of  those  inhuman  exhibitions 
which  the  Spaniards  regard  as  sport.  The  tiger  had  corralled 
the  sheep,  and  would  have  his  fun  with  them.  The  Spanish 
inhabitants  assembled  en  fete.  They  surrounded  the  arena 
in  which  the  exhibition  was  to  take  place.  People  less  ad- 
vanced hi  the  arts  of  inhumanity  than  Spaniards  are  apt  to 
imagine  that  a  man  has  but  one  life,  and  can  die  but  once ; 
but  the  viceroy  knew  better.  Amaru's  family  consisted  of 
his  wife,  his  two  sons,  and  his  uncle.  Amaru  loved  them 
all  as  he  loved  himself,  and  therefore  the  tormentors  ar- 


MORE    SPANISH    CIVILIZATION  277 

ranged  that  he  should  look  on  at  their  torture,  before  being 
personally  dealt  with.  First  the  old  uncle  was  led  out. 
Pincers  were  applied  to  his  tongue,  which  was  slowly  drawn 
out  by  the  roots,  amid  the  laughter  and  plaudits  of  the  as- 
sembly. An  iron  collar,  fitted  with  a  screw,  was  then  put 
round  the  victim's  neck,  the  screw  was  revolved,  and  he 
was  firmly  strangled  to  death.  The  corpse  having  been 
removed,  there  was  a  pause;  and  then  the  father  saw  his 
elder  son  brought  into  the  circle.  The  tortures  to  which 
this  young  man  was  subjected  were  more  prolonged,  and 
of  a  more  exquisite  nature,  than  the  simple  methods  which 
had  sufficed  for  the  uncle;  the  whole  performance  being 
conducted  on  the  principle  of  artistic  climax,  so  that  the 
spectators,  and  especially  the  star  spectator,  Amaru  him- 
self, should  not  be  sensible  of  any  monotony  or  satiety  in 
it.  The  son  lasted  a  good  while,  for  he  was  a  lusty  youth 
of  twenty;  but  he  was  fain  to  succumb  at  last,  and  the  re- 
mains were  removed,  to  make  room  for  the  third  subject 
of  experiment  —  Amaru's  wife.  Here  was  the  honorable 
woman  whom  Amaru  loved,  and  who  loved  him;  who  had 
borne  him  two  sons,  and  who  was  as  blameless  and  innocent 
as  a  woman  can  be;  she  was  brought  forth  into  the  glare  of 
the  arena,  the  centre  of  thousands  of  gloating  eyes,  the  butt 
of  thousands  of  jeering  cries ;  the  centre,  too,  of  that  awful 
gaze  bent  upon  her  by  her  husband,  who  would  have  given 
his  life  to  save  her  from  any  pain,  but  who  must  sit  helpless 
there  and  witness  her  agony,  long  drawn  out,  and  see  her 
subjected  to  shameful  insults,  more  terrible  for  her  to  endure 
than  death ;  and  at  last  must  behold  her  die,  a  mangled  and 
dishonored  spectacle,  handled  and  flouted  by  brutal  creat- 
ures, the  mere  touch  of  whose  coarse  hands  was  an  outrage 
to  such  as  she.  Well,  she  was  dead;  and  the  viceroy,  smil- 
ing archly  at  the  knights  and  ladies  of  his  retinue,  observed 
that  the  Inca  had  by  this  time  probably  seen  as  much  as  he 
was  capable  of  appreciating,  and  that  the  next  scene  of  the 
exhibition  would  consequently  be  the  disciplining  of  Amaru 
himself.  The  second  son,  the  little  ten-year-old  boy,  who 


278  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

had  stood  beside  his  father  all  this  while,  his  fresh  young 
eyes  blasted  by  the  hellish  transactions,  should  survive  to 
learn  how  Spain  admonished  those  who  ventured  to  dispute 
her  power. 

And  Tupac  Amaru,  last  of  the  Incas,  was  led  forth,  while 
a  movement  of  interest  and  animation  stirred  the  great  audi- 
ence. Men  with  knives  surrounded  him,  and  his  body  was 
stabbed  and  whittled  until  from  head  to  foot  it  was  a  bloody 
mass,  helplessly  writhing,  yet  with  life  enough  left  in  it  to 
feel  the  final  torture.  Four  horses  were  led  in,  with  harness 
attached  to  them ;  the  ends  of  four  thongs  were  made  fast  to 
the  arms  and  legs  of  the  hideous  figure,  and  a  man  at  each 
horse's  head  led  them  in  four  diverse  directions.  There  was 
a  strain,  a  jerk,  then  a  fierce  pull — for  the  joints  and  sinews 
of  a  man  are  tough  and  not  to  be  rent  apart  readily ;  but  the 
drivers  encourage  the  animals,  there  is  a  final  deadly  tug, 
and  the  still  living  body  flies  asunder,  and  the  gory  frag- 
ments are  dragged  in  the  dust  to  the  four  quarters  of  the 
compass.  What  a  thousand-throated  roar  of  gratulation 
and  triumph  goes  up :  mingling  the  hoarse  shouts  of  men, 
and  the  shrill  calls  of  Spanish  ladies !  But  higher  than  all 
rises  to  Heaven  a  shriek,  piercing  and  quivering,  of  childish 
horror  and  anguish;  a  shriek  never  to  be  forgotten  by  those 
who  heard  it.  The  heart  of  a  little  child  was  broken.  Even 
the  smile  that  curved  the  bearded  lips  of  the  viceroy  wore 
a  ghastly  aspect  for  a  moment.  The  show  was  over.  The 
brilliant  southern  sun  shone  down,  pure  and  peaceful ;  and 
no  earthquake  swallowed  up  the  great  throng  in  sudden  de- 
struction. Men  do  evil  in  the  world,  and  God  in  His  Provi- 
dence permits  it.  Hell  has  its  season,  and  its  uses  too;  out 
of  its  foulness  spring  the  immortal  flowers  of  human  liberty 
and  mutual  love.  Such  a  death  as  that  of  Tupac  Amaru 
wakens  sluggards,  and  arms  the  indolent;  it  brings  faith 
to  life,  and  steels  the  resolution  of  well-doing.  The  deed 
of  May,  1781,  was  the  foundation  on  which  was  built  the 
liberation  of  Spanish  America.  "But  woe  to  them  by  whom 
the  offences  come!" 


MORE   SPANISH   CIVILIZATION  279 

Eighty  thousand  Indians  of  the  Inca  tribe,  men,  women 
and  children,  were  slaughtered  at  this  time;  the  object  being 
to  finally  extirpate  the  race.  The  little  son,  condemned  to 
penal  servitude  for  life,  was  carried  to  Spain ;  and  his  fate 
is  not  known;  though  there  is  a  tradition  that  after  many 
years  he  returned  to  Peru,  and  died,  a  monk,  in  some  con- 
vent in  Lima.  But  at  all  times  during  his  life,  and  when 
he  closed  his  eyes  to  die,  he  saw  pictured  that  scene  in  the 
blood-stained  square  of  Cuzco;  the  straining  horses  suddenly 
breaking  free,  and  dragging  hither  and  thither  across  the 
sunlit  sand  the  fragments  of  what  had  been  his  father.  He 
had  been  an  innocent  child,  who  did  no  wrong  to  any  mor- 
tal ;  but  that  sight  was  to  remain  with  him  to  the  end.  Many 
deeds  not  less  eminent  for  cruelty  were  done  by  Spain  in 
America,  before  and  afterward;  but  something  in  the  cir- 
cumstances of  this  act  has  preserved  it  distinct  and  vivid  in 
the  eye  of  history.  Soon  after  a  secret  club  was  formed  in 
Lima,  whose  members  included  not  a  few  persons  of  Span- 
ish blood ;  its  object  was  to  secure  the  rights  for  which  Amaru 
died.  Its  influence  slowly  and  surely  spread,  and  its  final 
fruit  was  the  Revolution.  But  the  actual  murderers  went 
unscathed  and  free;  for  human  justice  has  no  punishment 
for  such  as  they. 

Perhaps  the  best  way  to  convey  a  picture  of  the  state  of 
South  America  before  the  revolt  will  be  to  quote  in  full  the 
Manifesto  issued  from  Buenos  Ay  res  in  1817,  reciting  the 
circumstances  which  led  up  to  the  movement.  It  is  long, 
but  there  was  much  to  be  told ;  the  truth  of  its  allegations 
is  unquestioned,  and  it  affords  a  resume  of  Spanish  policy 
and  procedure  which  can  be  supplied  in  no  more  effective 
manner. 

"Honor,"  say  the  authors  of  the  Manifesto,  "is  a  distinc- 
tion which  mortals  esteem  more  than  their  own  existence, 
and  they  are  bound  to  defend  it  above  all  earthly  benefits, 
however  great  and  sublime  these  may  be.  .  .  .  We  waive 
all  investigations  respecting  the  rights  of  conquest,  papal 


280  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH   AMERICA 

grants,  and  other  titles  on  which  Spaniards  have  usually 
founded  and  upheld  dominion.  We  appeal  to  facts.  We 
will  exhibit  reasons  which  no  rational  man  can  disregard 
unless  he  could  find  pleas  to  persuade  a  country  forever  to 
renounce  all  idea  of  its  own  felicity,  and  in  preference  to 
adopt  a  system  of  ruin,  opprobrium  and  submission.  From 
the  moment  when  the  Spaniards  possessed  themselves  of 
these  countries,  they  preferred  the  system  of  securing  their 
dominion  by  extermination,  destruction  and  degradation. 
This  system  has  been  continued  without  intermission  dur- 
ing the  space  of  three  hundred  years.  They  began  by  as- 
sassinating the  monarchs  of  Peru,  and  they  afterward  did 
the  same  with  the  other  chieftains  and  distinguished  men 
who  came  in  their  way.  The  inhabitants  of  the  country, 
anxious  to  restrain  such  ferocious  intrusion,  owing  to  the 
great  disadvantage  of  their  arms  became  the  victims  of 
fire  and  sword,  and  were  compelled  to  see  their  homes  in 
flames,  everywhere  applied  without  pity  or  distinction. 

"The  Spaniards  then  placed  a  limit  to  the  population  of 
the  country.  Under  rigorous  laws  they  prohibited  the  in- 
gress of  foreigners,  and  in  all  practicable  ways  limited  that 
even  of  Spaniards  themselves,  although  latterly  the  immigra- 
tion of  criminals  and  outcasts  was  encouraged.  Neither  our 
vast  though  beautiful  deserts,  formed  by  the  extermination 
of  the  natives,  nor  the  advantages  Spain  might  have  derived 
from  their  cultivation,  nor  the  incitement  of  mines  the  rich- 
est and  most  abundant  on  earth,  nor  the  stimulus  of  innu- 
merable productions  fitted  to  carry  agriculture  and  commerce 
to  the  highest  pitch  of  opulence,  nor  even  the  wanton  wicked- 
ness of  keeping  these  countries  in  their  condition  of  abject 
misery — were  motives  powerful  enough  to  influence  the  dark 
and  menacing  principles  of  the  cabinet  of  Madrid.  In  the 
spaces  intervening  between  one  city  and  another  there  are 
still  hundreds  of  leagues  unsettled  and  uncultivated ;  in  some 
places  entire  towns  have  vanished,  either  buried  in  the  ruins 
of  the  mines,  or  their  inhabitants  destroyed  by  the  forced 
and  deadly  labor  of  working  them.  Nor  have  the  cries  of 


MORE    SPANISH    CIVILIZATION  281 

all  Peru  nor  the  remonstrances  of  zealous  ministers  availed 
to  reform  this  exterminating  system  of  'mita,'  carried  on  in 
the  bowels  of  the  earth. 

''The  art  of  operating  the  mines  has  been  unattended  by 
the  improvements  which  have  distinguished  the  enlightened 
age  in  which  we  live  and  lesiened  the  incidental  casualties. 
Hence,  rich  mines,  worked  in  a  clumsy  and  wasteful  man- 
ner, have  caved  in  and  been  overwhelmed,  or  the  rush  of 
waters  has  inundated  them.  Other  rare  and  valuable  prod- 
ucts of  nature  are  still  undeveloped  and  neglected  by  the 
government,  and  if  any  among  us  have  ventured  to  point 
out  their  advantages,  he  has  been  censured  by  the  court 
and  forced  to  silence,  lest  competition  arise  among  the  few 
artisans  of  the  country. 

"The  teaching  of  science  was  forbidden  us,  and  only  the 
study  of  Latin  grammar  was  permitted,  together  with  ancient 
philosophy,  theology,  civil  and  canonical  jurisprudence.  Um- 
brage was  taken  at  the  Buenos  Ayres  Board  of  Trade  because 
it  presumed  to  bear  the  expenses  of  a  nautical  school.  By 
order  of  court  it  was  closed.  An  injunction  was  also  laid 
upon  our  youth  not  to  visit  Paris  to  become  professors  of 
chemistry,  with  a  view  to  teaching  this  science  to  their 
countrymen  at  home. 

"Commerce  has  always  been  a  monopoly  in  the  hands 
of  Spanish  traders  and  the  consignees  they  sent  to  America. 
Public  offices  were  reserved  for  Spaniards,  and  though  bylaw 
they  were  equally  open  to  Americans,  we  attained  them,  if 
at  all,  only  by  satisfying  the  avarice  of  the  courts  by  sacri- 
ficing immense  sums.  Among  one  hundred  and  sixty  vice- 
roys who  have  ruled  in  America,  only  four  natives  of  this 
country  are  numbered;  of  six  hundred  and  two  captains- 
general  and  governors,  all  save  fourteen  have  been  Span- 
iards. The  same  discrimination  was  made,  pro  rata,*  in 
other  offices  of  importance.  Even  in  the  lowest  situations 
the  Americans  were  hardly  permitted  to  alternate  with  the 
Spaniards. 

"Everything  was  arranged  by  Spain  to  secure  the  degra- 


282  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

dation  of  natives  of  America.  She  wished  no  wise  men  to 
arise  among  them,  lest  minds  and  talents  should  exist  able 
to  forward  their  country's  interests,  and  advancing  the  civil- 
ization, manners  and  faculties  of  the  children  of  the  colonies. 
She  steadily  diminished  our  population,  fearing  it  might  other- 
wise rebel  against  a  dominion  maintained  only  by  the  few 
hands  to  whom  was  intrusted  the  task  of  guarding  remote 
and  extensive  regions.  She  carried  on  an  exclusive  trade, 
believing  that  wealth  would  render  us  proud  and  indepen- 
dent. She  forbade  us  the  cultivation  of  industries,  that  we 
might  lack  the  means  to  rise  from  poverty  and  misery ;  and 
we  were  excluded  from  offices  of  trust,  in  order  that  Span- 
iards only  might  exercise  influence  in  the  country,  and 
establish  among  us  habits  and  inclinations  that  would  dis- 
able us  from  thinking  or  acting  except  according  to  Spanish 
models. 

"Such  was  the  system  upheld  by  the  viceroys,  each  of 
whom  bore  the  state  and  arrogance  of  a  vizier.  They  had 
power  to  crush  any  who  had  the  misfortune  to  displease 
them.  Be  the  outrages  perpetrated  what  they  might,  they 
must  be  endured  with  resignation,  for  the  frown  of  the  rulers 
was  compared  by  their  satellites  to  the  wrath  of  God.  Com- 
plaints addressed  to  the  home  government  were  either  lost 
in  transit,  or  were  buried  in  the  offices  by  the  influence  of 
relatives  or  patrons  of  the  men  in  power.  This  system, 
so  far  from  being  ameliorated,  has  been  more  exacting,  so 
that  all  hope  of  improvement  through  lapse  of  time  is  vain. 
We  held  no  part  in  our  own  government,  either  direct  or 
indirect;  all  legislation  was  done  by  Spain.  Nor  were  we 
permitted  to  send  emissaries  to  point  out  the  wishes  and 
needs  of  the  people,  as  the  cities  of  Spain  might  do ;  and  the 
only  resource  left  us  was  patience ;  for  he  who  was  not  ready 
to  endure  all  in  silence  was  menaced  not  merely  with  capital 
punishment,  but  with  torments  of  such  unheard-of  cruelty 
as  made  nature  shudder. 

"Not  so  great  nor  so  persistent  were  the  hardships  that 
roused  Holland  to  revolt  from  the  yoke  of  Spain,  nor  those 


MORE   SPANISH   CIVILIZATION  283 

of  Portugal  under  like  conditions.  Less  were  the  sufferings 
which  drove  the  Swiss  to  the  protection  of  William  Tell;  less 
those  which  marshalled  the  United  States  of  North  America 
against  the  imposts  of  the  British  king;  less,  in  short,  the 
urgent  motives  which  have  driven  other  countries,  not  sepa- 
rated by  nature  from  the  parent  state,  to  cast  off  a  yoke  of 
iron  and  embrace  their  own  felicity.  .  .  . 

" Posterity  will  marvel  at  the  ferocity  toward  us  of  men 
interested  to  preserve  Spanish  power  in  America,  and  their 
rash  folly  in  punishing  demonstrations  of  affection  and  loy- 
alty. The  name  of  Ferdinand  de  Bourbon  preceded  all  our 
decrees  of  government  and  was  at  the  head  of  its  public  acts. 
The  flag  of  Spain  floated  over  our  ships  and  animated  our 
regiments.  The  provinces,  beholding  the  discomfiture  of  the 
mother  country,  raised  up  a  watch-tower,  as  it  were,  amid 
themselves,  to  guard  their  own  safety,  reserving  to  them- 
selves the  epportunity  to  return  to  the  captive  monarch, 
should  he  regain  his  liberty.  We  offered  pecuniary  supplies 
to  prosecute  the  war,  and  we  repeatedly  published  the  recti- 
tude of  our  purposes  and  the  sincerity  of  our  good  wishes. 
Great  Britain,  at  that  time  so  friendly  to  Spain,  proffered 
her  good  offices  to  mitigate  the  harshness  of  our  treatment. 
But  the  Spanish  ministers,  blinded  by  their  sanguinary 
caprice,  spurned  mediation  and  issued  orders  to  their  gen- 
erals to  push*  the  war  and  inflict  heavier  punishments. 
Everywhere  were  scaffolds  erected,  and  every  means  was 
availed  of  to  spread  consternation.  They  tried  to  divide 
us  in  order  that  we  might  exterminate  one  another.  They 
circulated  atrocious  calumnies  against  us,  attributing  to  us 
the  design  of  destroying  our  sacred  religion,  of  casting  aside 
morality,  and  of  giving  rein  to  licentiousness.  They  urged 
a  war  of  religion  against  us,  devising  plots  to  disturb  and 
alarm  the  conscience  of  the  people,  causing  Spanish  bishops 
to  issue  edicts  of  ecclesiastical  censure  and  interdiction  among 
the  faithful,  to  publish  excommunications,  and  to  sow  fanat- 
ical doctrines  in  the  tribunal  of  penance.  Thus  have  they 
created  discord  in  families,  provoked  quarrels  between  par- 
—  13 


284  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

ents  and  children,  torn  asunder  the  bonds  uniting  man  and 
wife,  implanted  enmity  and  rancor  among  brothers  formerly 
affectionate,  and  even  placed  nature  herself  in  a  state  of  hos- 
tility and  perversity.  They  have  adopted  the  system  of  kill- 
ing men  indiscriminately  in  order  to  diminish  our  numbers. 
On  their  entry  into  towns,  they  have  seized  non-combatants, 
hurried  them  in  groups  to  the  squares,  and  there  shot  them 
one  by  one.  The  cities  of  Chuquisaca  and  Cochabamba  have 
more  than  once  been  the  theatre  of  these  ferocious  acts. 
They  have  mixed  our  prisoners  among  their  own  troops, 
carrying  off  our  officers,  in  irons,  to  remote  dungeons  where, 
during  the  period  of  a  year,  it  was  impossible  for  them  to 
keep  their  health.  Others  they  have  left  to  die  of  hunger 
and  misery  in  the  prisons,  and  many  they  have  forced  to 
labor  in  public  works.  In  an  arrogant  manner  they  have 
shot  down  the  bearers  of  our  flags  of  truce,  and  perpetrated 
the  basest  horrors  upon  military  chiefs  and  other  eminent 
persons  who  had  already  surrendered  themselves,  notwith- 
standing the  humanity  we  have  always  shown  to  prisoners 
captured  from  them.  In  proof  of  this,  we  quote  the  cases 
of  Deputy  Matos  from  Potosi,  Captain- General  Pumacagua, 
General  Angulo  and  his  brother,  Commandant  Mimecas, 
and  other  leaders,  shot  in  cold  blood  many  days  after  they 
had  been  made  prisoners. 

"In  the  town  of  Valle-Grande  they  enjoyed  the  brutal 
pleasure  of  cutting  off  the  ears  of  the  inhabitants,  and  sent 
a  basket  filled  with  these  gifts  to  their  headquarters.  They 
afterward  burned  the  town,  set  fire  to  thirty  other  populous 
towns  belonging  to  Peru,  and  took  delight  in  shutting  up 
persons  in  their  own  houses  before  the  flames  were  applied 
to  them,  in  order  that  they  might  there  be  burned  to  death. 
They  have  not  only  been  cruel  and  implacable  in  murder, 
but  they  have  also  divested  themselves  of  all  morality  and 
decency  by  whipping  ancient  religious  persons  in  the  open 
squares,  and  also  women,  bound  to  cannon,  having  caused 
them  first  to  be  stripped  of  their  clothing  and  exposed  to 
shame  and  derision.  For  all  these  kinds  of  punishments 


MORE    SPANISH    CIVILIZATION  285 

they  established  an  inquisitorial  system.  They  have  seized 
the  persons  of  numbers  of  peaceable  citizens  and  conveyed 
them  overseas  to  be  judged  for  alleged  crimes.  Many  have 
they  sent  to  execution  without  any  form  of  trial  whatever. 

"They  have  destroyed  our  ships,  plundered  our  coasts, 
butchered  defenceless  inhabitants,  without  even  sparing 
superannuated  priests;  and  by  order  of  General  Pezuela 
they  burned  the  church  belonging  to  the  town  of  Puna,  and 
put  to  the  sword  old  men,  women  and  children — the  only 
inhabitants  found  therein.  They  have  stirred  up  atrocious 
conspiracies  among  Spaniards  domiciliated  in  our  cities,  and 
thus  forced  upon  us  the  painful  necessity  of  imposing  capital 
punishment  upon  the  fathers  of  many  families.  They  have 
compelled  our  brethren  and  children  to  take  up  arms  against 
us,  and  forming  armies  out  of  the  people  of  the  country, 
under  command  of  their  own  officers,  have  forced  them  to 
do  battle  with  our  troops.  They  have  stirred  up  domestic 
plots  and  conspiracies  by  corrupting  with  money,  and  by 
means  of  all  kinds  of  machinations  have  misled  the  peaceful 
inhabitants  of  the  country  in  order  to  involve  us  in  anarchy, 
and  then,  in  our  weak  and  divided  condition,  to  overwhelm  us. 

"In  a  shameful  and  infamous  manner  they  have  failed 
to  fulfil  every  capitulation  we  have  concluded  with  them, 
even  at  such  times  as  we  have  had  them  at  the  mercy  of 
our  own  swords.  They  caused  four  thousand  men,  after 
surrendering,  again  to  take  up  arms,  together  with  General 
Tristan,  at  the  action  of  Salta;  though  our  own  General  Bel- 
grano,  on  the  field  of  battle,  had  generously  granted  them 
terms  of  capitulation,  trusting  to  their  word  of  honor. 

"They  have  invented  a  new  and  horrid  species  of  war- 
fare, by  poisoning  wells  and  food,  as  for  example  when  they 
were  conquered  by  General  Pinelo,  in  La  Paz;  moreover,  in 
return  for  the  kind  manner  in  which  the  General  behaved  to 
them,  they  descended  to  the  barbarous  stratagem  of  blowing 
up  the  soldiers'  quarters,  which  they  had  first  undermined. 
They  have  had  the  baseness  to  tamper  with  our  generals  and 
governors,  by  abusing  the  sacred  compact  of  flags  of  truce; 


286  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

and  by  making  written  overtures  to  them  have  endeavored 
to  make  them  play  the  traitor  to  us.  They  have  declared 
that  laws  of  war  as  observed  among  civilized  nations  cannot 
be  observed  in  our  case;  and,  after  the  battle  of  Ayouma, 
their  General  Pezuela,  in  order  to  avoid  any  compromise 
or  understanding,  had  the  audacity  to  reply  to  General 
Belgrano  that  it  was  impossible  to  enter  into  treaties  with 
rebels. 

"Such  has  been  the  conduct  of  Spaniards  toward  us  since 
the  restoration  to  the  throne  of  his  ancestors  of  Ferdinand 
de  Bourbon.  We  then  hoped  that  the  end  of  so  many  mis- 
fortunes had  come.  We  had  believed  that  a  king  schooled 
in  so  many  lessons  of  adversity  would  not  be  indifferent  to 
the  ruin  of  his  people;  and  we  dispatched  a  commissioner 
to  him  in  order  to  inform  him  concerning  our  situation.  We 
could  not  for  a  moment  anticipate  that,  as  a  benign  prince, 
he  would  fail  to  meet  our  wishes;  nor  could  we  doubt  that 
our  requests  would  interest  him  in  a  degree  answering  to 
the  character  which  had  been  ascribed  to  him  by  his  Span- 
ish courtiers  of  nobility  and  consideration.  But  for  America 
was  reserved  a  new  and  hitherto  unknown  species  of  ingrati- 
tude, surpassing  all  examples  found  in  history  of  the  greatest 
tyrants. ' ' 

It  is  curious  to  compare  this  prolonged  and  almost  femi- 
nine "shriek  of  aggrieved  protest,  uttered  in  1817  by  the 
republicans  of  Buenos  Ayres,  with  the  curt,  masculine  ar- 
raignment of  George  III.  of  England,  in  our  Declaration 
of  Independence,  by  the  resolute  patriots  of  1776.  We  have 
not  a  little  compressed  and  pruned  from  its  native  rhetorical 
exuberances  the  Spanish- American  composition ;  but  the  dif- 
ference between  the  fibre  of  the  Latin  Race  and  that  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  is  abundantly  apparent.  It  is  interesting,  too, 
to  remember  that  the  complainants  in  this  case  are  precisely 
the  same  people,  by  blood,  as  are  the  tyrants  whom  they 
denounce.  It  has  been  a  case  of  dog  eating  dog;  and  the 
under  dog  protests  as  vehemently  against  the  upper  dog's 


MORE    SPANISH    CIVILIZATION  2b7 

savagery,  as  if  he  himself,  a  few  generations  before,  had 
not  practiced  identically  the  same  savagery  against  the  Pe- 
ruvians and  other  native  American  races.     Spaniards  are  as 
quick  as  any  one  else  to  denounce  Spaniards,  when  Spanish 
tactics  are  directed  against  themselves.    But  our  recognition 
of  this  fact  need  not  lead  us  to  withhold  our  compassion 
from  the  terrible  plight  in  which  the  Spanish  Americans 
stood;  we  can  only  marvel  at  their  having  endured  such 
treatment  so  long.     It  would  be  politically  instructive  to 
draw  an  elaborate  parallel  between  the  revolt  of  the  North 
American  colonies,  and  its  sequel,  and  those  of  the  South 
American  colonies  of  Spain.      The  former  were  not  only 
ardent  for  independence,  but  they  were  prepared  for  self- 
government  ;  they  knew  how  to  be  free.    They  had  been  out- 
rageously wronged  by  the  British  blockheads  who  formed  the 
Cabinet  in  London ;  but  there  was  not,  nor  had  there  ever 
been,  a  drop  of  either  slavish  or  despotic  blood  in  their  veins; 
they  had  never  perpetrated  barbarities  on  others,  and  they 
had  never  tamely  submitted  to  them.     When  it  came  to 
fighting,  therefore,  there  was  generated  on  neither  the  col- 
onists' nor  the  English  side  that  species  of  murderous  frenzy 
and  satanic  hatred  which  marked  the  conduct  of  both  par- 
ties in  the  war  of  Spanish- American  revolution.    But  for  the 
use  of  German  mercenaries  against  us  by  King  George,  the 
war  of  our  Revolution  was  a  very  decent  war  on  both  sides, 
and  was  not  attended  by  any  of  the  fantastic  extravagances 
which  stain  and  render  grotesque  the  grapplings  and  snarl- 
ings  of  the  Spaniards  and  their  colonists  a  generation  later. 
And  when  our  war  was  over,  we  built  our  Constitution  on 
sane  and  dignified  lines,   and  have  stuck  to  it  with  most 
commendable  fidelity  ever  since;  whereas  the  annals  of  the 
Spanish  American  republics  are  for  the  most  part  an  anom- 
alous welter  of  license  and  despotism,  sublime  manifestoes 
and  base  treacheries,  heroic  proclamations  and  vulgar  as- 
sassinations ;  the  august  robes  of  Liberty  trailed  in  the  mire 
by  political  trollops  of  the   most   profane  and  bloodthirsty 
type.      The   testimony   of   history  as   regards   the  Spanish 


288  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

American  republics,  during  the  last  eighty  or  ninety  years, 
demonstrates  plainly  that  these  Latins  are  not  made  of  self- 
governing  stuff ;  there  is  not,  in  sober  truth,  such  a  thing  as 
a  Spanish  American  republic  up  to  this  hour  in  existence. 
The  moment  a  "president"  is  elected — or  manages  to  make 
good  a  claim  to  having  been  elected — he  becomes  inevitably 
a  tyrant,  and  a  mark  for  assassination.     Once  in  a  while  we 
find  a  man  like  Diaz  of  Mexico  who  has  really  great  quali- 
ties, and  force  enough  in  his  personal  character  to  rule  with- 
out constantly  resorting  to  inhuman  extremities.     Diaz  is  a 
dictator,  as  Francia  was ;  though  of  course  there  is  a  breadth 
and  security  about  him  which  poor  lonely  Francia  lacked. 
But  circumstances  and  good  fortune,  long  continued,  have 
so  settled  him  in  his  seat  that  no  one  now  thinks  of  attempt- 
ing to  get  him  out  of  it;  and  consequently  he  is  able  to  put 
in  practice  the  qualities  of  statesmanship  which  he  possesses ; 
and  which  are  of  incalculable  benefit  to  his  subjects  and  his 
country.      Sound  statesmanship  is  by  no  means  foreign  or 
impossible  to  the  Latin  character;  the  trouble  is,  so  far  as 
Spanish  America  is  concerned,  that  so  few  of  their  leaders 
have  arrived  at  a  position  where  they  could  call  these  qual- 
ities into  play;  their  entire  tune  and  resources  were  taken 
up  in  guarding  themselves  against  conspirators.     Not  only 
is  republicanism  impossible  to  Latins,  but  the  pretence  of  it 
does  them  great  harm ;  it  becomes  to  them  simply  an  irre- 
sistible incentive  to  lawlessness.     Their  paper  preamble  de- 
clares that  they  are  all  equal,  and  that  any  one  of  them  may 
be  at  the  top  of  the  heap;    therefore  they  all  engage  in  a 
fierce  scramble  to  reach  that  sinister  eminence.     The  com- 
mon people,  meanwhile,  who  will  ultimately  be  the  salva- 
tion of  the  situation,  try  to  do  their  work  and  earn  their 
living  between  revolutions,  or  even  while  these  are  in  prog- 
ress;  they  feel  no  personal  interest  in  the  quarrels  of  the 
governing  class,  though  they  cannot  avoid  being  occasion- 
ally dragged  into  them ;  they  do  not  comprehend  the  glori- 
ous privilege  of  universal  suffrage;  and  certainly  they  have 
never  enjoyed  the  opportunity  of  learning  what  it  mar  bt? 


MORE    SPANISH    CIVILIZATION  289 

from  practical  experience.  In  the  long  lapse  of  time,  we 
may  hope,  the  matter  will  work  itself  out  on  common-sense 
principles.  Here  are  magnificent  countries  to  be  developed, 
and  an  ample  population  to  develop  theni:  the  weight  of 
that  pair  of  facts,  if  you  give  them  time,  must  finally  pre- 
vail over  all  the  opera-bouffe  element  which  has  hitherto 
been  so  noisily  and  bloodily  conspicuous.  We  may  look  for 
a  gradual  drawing  together  of  the  several  states  into  one 
homogeneous  organism,  with  probably  some  able  adminis- 
trator at  the  head;  whether  that  administrator  will  be  a 
Spanish  American  or  quite  another  species  of  man,  is  a 
question  we  need  not  here  speculate  upon.  But  his  gov- 
ernment will  be  of  such  a  sort  that  the  Spanish  American 
politicians  cannot  overturn  it,  and  the  common  people  will 
not  desire  to  do  so ;  for  they  will  be  permitted  to  mind  their 
own  business,  and  will  find  peace  and  prosperity  in  so  doing. 
The  English,  the  Germans,  and  the  Americans  from  the 
United  States,  will  insensibly  possess  the  industries  and 
the  commerce  of  the  continent,  and  the  Spanish  strain  will 
become  more  and  more  diluted,  until,  for  all  practical  pur- 
poses, it  will  vanish  as  a  factor  in  the  problem.  When  that 
happens  we  can  begin  to  think  about  a  real  republic  for 
America,  extending  from  as  far  north  to  as  far  south  as 
we  please.  But,  till  then,  it  is  a  phantasmagory,  enter- 
taining as  a  drama,  but  with  nothing  real  and  substantial 
about  it. 

But  to  return  to  the  period  of  Spanish  domination,  we 
may  freely  admit  that  it  was  much  less  tolerable  than  the 
worst  that  we  were  ever  called  upon  to  put  up  with.  The 
colonists  were  justified,  one  would  say,  in  any  kind  of  re- 
taliation; and  considering  that  they  might  have  conducted 
themselves  like  wild  beasts,  it  is  to  their  credit  that  they 
retained  their  resemblance  to  humanity  throughout;  and 
here  and  there,  in  the  person  of  some  leader,  attained  quite 
heroic  proportions.  But  even  the  most  laudable  of  these 
Spanish  American  heroes,  like  St.  Martin,  for  example,  suf- 
fers by  comparison  with  the  men  who  led  our  race,  in  that 


290  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

they  cannot  get  rid  of  their  self -consciousness.  No  matter 
now  vast  the  events  in  which  they  move,  it  is  always  their 
own  part  in  those  events  which  looms  largest  in  their  eyes. 
There  are  some  things  in  St.  Martin  which  recall  the  En- 
glish Gordon;  but  Gordon's  soul  hurried  him  along,  from 
one  end  of  his  life  to  the  other,  without  Gordon  in  his  proper 
person  having  anything  to  say  in  the  matter;  whereas  St. 
Martin,  perhaps  hardly  less  good  a  man  in  the  orthodox 
sense,  continually  saw  before  him,  beckoning  him  on,  the 
vision  of  himself  in  sublime  poses  and  uttering  splendid 
apothegms.  It  is  the  old  distinction  between  the  purpose 
and  the  person  that  is  here  drawn.  It  is  the  distinction  be- 
tween Napoleon  and  Wellington.  The  Napoleons  often  per- 
form  prodigious  feats,  but  the  Wellingtons  are  working  in 
harmony  with  permanent  principles,  and  in  the  end  their 
result  is  the  more  valuable. 

There  is  no  history,  properly  speaking,  of  the  southern 
parts  of  the  South  American  continent,  previous  to  the 
Revolution.  The  reason  is  that  the  native  Indians  of  those 
regions,  unlike  the  Peruvian  and  Chilian  tribes,  were  not 
advanced  in  civilization,  and  had  no  wealth  to  tempt  the 
invaders  withal.  They  were  savages,  living  as  savages  do 
from  hand  to  mouth,  and  incapable  of  opposing  even  so 
much  resistance  to  the  Spaniards  as  had  the  Incas  and  the 
Chilians.  There  was  nothing  in  the  outward  aspect  of  the 
vast  pampas  of  the  Argentine  and  lower  Brazil  to  arrest 
the  attention  of  men  in  quest  of  gold  and  precious  stones; 
the  country  might  be  useful  for  agricultural  purposes,  and 
for  stock-raising;  but  it  was  not  until  long  after  the  first 
flush  of  South  American  discovery  was  past  that  these  at- 
tractions had  much  weight  with  the  Europeans.  The  Ar- 
gentine region  was  colonized  by  Spain  about  the  middle  of 
the  sixteenth  century ;  and  a  race  of  Creoles,  mongrels,  and 
native  Indians  lived  and  grew  there  until  1810,  when  the 
first  stirrings  of  revolt  began.  During  those  silent  ages  there 
was  no  attempt  to  fix  boundaries,  still  less  of  course  to  quar- 
rel over  them;  no  one  knew  how  far  the  country  extended, 


MORE    SPANISH    CIVILIZATION  291 

or  what  it  was  worth.  Commerce,  so  far  as  it  existed, 
sought  only  the  northeastern  coast  and  that  of  the  Pacific 
slopes;  every  one  wished  to  get  his  share  from  the  lands 
of  gold  before  the  gold  was  all  gone ;  and  would  only  take 
up  with  farming  when  there  was  nothing  else  left. 

The  annals  of  the  vast  expanse  of  Brazil  are  still  more 
featureless  than  those  of  the  Argentine.  This  country,  as 
we  have  seen,  was  discovered  by  a  Spaniard,  Pinzon,  in 
1499,  and  in  the  following  year  the  navigator  Cabral,  a 
Portuguese,  while  shaping  his  course  for  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  was  blown  across  the  Atlantic  and  rediscovered  the 
country  for  himself.  Inasmuch  as  it  appeared  that  the  land 
lay  on  the  Portuguese  side  of  the  imaginary  line  drawn  by 
the  Pope,  to  Portugal  was  the  new  region  finally  assigned, 
and  it  has  remained  in  Portuguese  hands  ever  since,  though, 
a  few  years  ago  (1889),  Emperor  Dom  Pedro  was  forced  to 
leave  the  throne,  and  a  quasi-republic  was  substituted  for 
the  empire.  In  the  vast  Brazilian  forests  there  is  inexhaust- 
ible wealth,  and  the  illimitable  plains  and  plateaus  to  the 
south  are  capable  of  supporting  countless  herds;  but  the  de- 
ficiency of  transport,  and  the  immense  difficulty  of  conduct- 
ing steady  industries  in  these  heated  and  wild  regions,  will 
for  a  long  time  prevent  Brazil  from  realizing  its  possibilities. 
The  area  of  Brazil  is  a  little  over  three  million  square  miles, 
while  the  population  is  about  fourteen  millions — or  about  four 
to  the  square  mile.  Evidently,  therefore,  the  country  has 
hardly  yet  reached  the  threshold  of  its  destiny.  Should  it 
remain  in  its  present  ownership,  and  under  the  existing  spe- 
cies of  administration,  it  might  be  several  centuries  before 
it  showed  much  signs  of  advance ;  but  it  is  not  likely  that 
present  conditions  will  much  longer  continue.  "The  horse 
is  his  who  rides  it,"  says  the  proverb;  and  Brazil  will  be 
ridden  before  the  close  of  the  next  century  by  men  of  another 
race  than  its  discoverers. 

The  Spanish  American  Revolution,  though  precipitated, 
as  we  have  observed,  by  the  state  to  which  Napoleon  reduced 
Spain  in  the  first  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century,  had  had 


HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

its  premonitory  rumblings  some  years  before.  The  example 
of  the  United  States,  followed  by  that  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, could  not  be  lost  upon  any  man  of  education  and  sen- 
sibility whose  own  country  was  suffering  under  oppression. 
Accordingly,  we  find  various  more  or  less  obscure  move- 
ments and  gettings-together  of  Spanish  Americans,  toward 
the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth,  having  in  view  the  purpose  to  conspire  against 
Spain,  and  to  get  help,  from  one  nation  or  another,  toward 
making  the  revolt  successful.  It  need  not  be  doubted  that 
there  was  a  great  deal  of  real  patriotism  behind  these  move- 
ments; and  we  need  not  criticise  them  too  harshly  if  we  fic«l 
that  within  this  patriotism,  as  soul  within  body,  was  the  in- 
tention on  the  part  of  the  conspirator  to  himself  occupy  the 
seat  of  power  now  held  by  the  Spanish  viceroy,  so  soon  as 
the  latter  should  have  been  cast  down  from  it;  and  in  the 
meanwhile,  of  taking  the  leading  part  in  the  operations  hav- 
ing that  casting  down  for  their  object.  In  other  words,  it 
would  be  cause  for  special  wonder  if  personal  ambition  had 
not  entered  largely  into  the  motives  of  these  premature  revo- 
lutionaries; the  political  education  they  had  enjoyed,  so  far 
as  it  was  pursued  in  their  own  country,  was  not  of  a  sort  apt 
to  beget  disinterested  ideas.  Moreover,  having  reflected 
upon  the  subject  of  freedom,  they  would  naturally  suppose 
themselves  better  qualified  than  others  to  carry  to  a  success- 
ful issue  the  principles  which  they  had  been  thinking  about. 
The  true  conditions  of  government  by  the  people  for  the  peo- 
ple had  not  been,  and  could  not  be,  apprehended  by  such 
men;  there  was  to  be  a  "constitution,"  of  course,  with  all 
the  political  virtues  inscribed  in  it ;  but  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
some  person,  preferably  the  arch  conspirator  himself,  was 
to  guide  the  new  state,  and  administer  its  liberties  in  such 
manner  as  might  seem  most  expedient.  That  a  legislature 
should  be  actually  and  literally  representative  of  the  mass 
of  the  people,  and  that  the  presidential  office  should  be  purely 
executive,  was  a  conception  not  as  yet  above  the  mental 
horizon  of  these  good  folks.  And,  bearing  in  mind  that  the 


MORE   SPANISH   CIVILIZATION  293 

mass  of  the  people  were  then,  and  still  are,  wholly  incapable 
of  knowing  what  was  for  their  best  interests,  we  must  admit 
that  there  was  much  excuse  for  the  blindness  of  the  leaders 
in  this  particular. 

In  fact,  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  organizing  a  true 
republic  in  South  America  were  insurmountable.  There  was 
no  material  out  of  which  to  make  one.  There  was  a  rabble 
of  illiterate  and  semi-brutalized  human  beings,  but  there  was 
no  democracy.  The  tyranny  of  Spain  during  three  or  four 
centuries  had  borne  its  normal  fruits.  The  rabble  disliked 
being  worked  to  death  and  robbed,  no  doubt ;  they  coveted 
all  the  good  things  of  life  that  they  knew  about ;  they  would 
like  to  have  the  say  as  to  what  they  should  do  and  be ;  but 
all  that  was  very  different  from  harboring  any  intelligent 
notions  of  self-government.  We,  in  this  country,  have  dis- 
covered that  self-government  demands  a  good  deal  more 
of  the  individual's  time  and  trouble  than  most  individuals 
are  disposed  to  expend  upon  it;  and  the  consequence  is,  the 
race  of  professional  politicians  who  manage  our  affairs  and 
help  themselves  out  of  our  pockets  for  doing  so.  The  cause 
of  our  neglect  is,  not  that  we  do  not  know  better,  but  that 
we  are  giving  our  whole  energy,  each  of  us,  to  building  up 
and  maintaining  our  private  fortunes  or  place  in  the  com- 
munity. But  in  the  case  of  the  South  Americans,  the  mass 
of  the  population  would  postpone  exacting  labors  for  the 
common  weal  to  the  indulgence  of  whatever  selfish  and 
material  indulgences  their  knowledge  or  their  opportunities 
afforded  them.  This  preoccupation  of  theirs  left  apart  the 
class  of  persons,  with  some  private  means  perhaps,  who 
sought  to  be  the  governing  class.  They  were  comparatively 
few  in  numbers,  but  their  voices  were  loud,  and  their  greed 
of  office,  and  of  the  emoluments  of  office,  was  insatiable. 
Each  of  these  persons  was  for  himself,  and  therefore  against 
all  the  rest;  but  numbers  of  them  would  band  together  to 
promote  the  fortunes  of  some  leader,  because  in  his  success 
they  saw  the  opening  of  the  road  to  their  own  minor  ends. 
Political  Control  being  the  common  object  of  all,  no  party 


294  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

could  remain  in  possession  without  being  the  object  of  the 
intrigues  of  the  other  party.  And  since  both  sides  were  as 
a  rule  nearly  equally  strong  in  numbers,  the  situation  could 
not  be  other  than  chronically  insecure.  In  truth,  the  only 
form  of  government  for  which  these  South  American  States 
were  fitted,  was  that  of  a  dictator ;  and  that  was  the  reason 
why  the  presidents,  one  after  another,  were  dictators  more 
or  less  avowed.  If  it  had  not  been  for  that  illusion  of  a 
republic  behind  the  dictatorship,  all  might  have  gone  fairly 
well;  but  the  dictator  was  rendered  vicious  and  cruel  by 
the  inward  knowledge  that  he  was  violating  the  constitu- 
tion; and  the  people  were  kept  in  turmoil  by  the  obvious 
fact  that  they  were  not  getting  the  kind  of  government 
which  they  had  been  told  they  were  to  have.  No  one  seemed 
capable  of  understanding  the  seemingly  simple  proposition, 
that  if  a  people  is  not  inwardly  free,  there  is  no  use  in  deco- 
rating them  with  the  external  symbols  of  freedom.  What 
was  needed  were  education  and  culture,  and  the  progressive 
use  of  the  virtues  of  self-control  and  duty.  A  dictator, 
avowedly  endowed  with  absolute  powers,  and  secure  in  his 
position,  could  have  conferred  immense  benefits  upon  South 
America;  and  a  succession  of  such  men,  during  the  interval 
which  has  elapsed  since  the  Revolution,  might  have  brought 
the  population  up  to  a  level  where  the  exercise  of  the  ballot 
would  not  be  a  swindle  and  an  absurdity.  Diaz  in  Mexico, 
in  comparatively  a  few  years,  has  shown  what  intelligent 
and  benevolent  dictatorship  may  accomplish.  When  he  dies, 
he  will  leave  his  countrymen  so  much  above  what  they  were 
when  he  found  them,  that  they  may  succeed  in  founding  a 
real  republic — the  first  real  one  that  will  have  been  seen 
south  of  the  United  States  on  this  continent. 

But  to  return  to  actualities. — In  1756  there  was  born  in 
Caracas,  at  the  base  of  the  maritime  Andes,  on  the  northern 
coast  of  Venezuela,  an  individual  by  the  name  of  Francisco 
Miranda.  His  family  was,  socially,  of  the  better  sort;  they 
possessed  property,  and  the  boy  received  a  fair  education, 
and  was  never  obliged  to  work  for  his  living.  He  was  by 


MORE    SPANISH    CIVILIZATION  295 

nature  impulsive,  passionate,  self -conceited,  and  weak;  given 
to  vague  imaginings,  and  easily  kindled  by  exalted  notions 
which  lacked  the  substance  and  knowledge  to  become  reali- 
ties. He  was  a  man  in  fact  who  ever  mistook  the  shadow 
for  the  substance,  and  was  continually  in  hot  water  on  this 
account;  he  was  voluble  and  magnanimous  in  talk,  and 
thought  that  because  he  said  things  he  did  them,  and  ought 
to  receive  the  rewards  of  such  doing.  Had  he  had  the  good 
luck  to  be  born  in  an  earlier  or  in  a  later  age,  he  might  have 
frothed  away  harmlessly;  but  it  was  his  doom  to  live  at  a 
period  when  great  overturnings  were  taking  place  in  the 
world,  and  he  got  the  idea  that  he  himself  could  become 
such  a  figure  as  those  which  he  saw  in  Europe  or  in  North 
America,  standing  at  the  head  of  nations.  He  spun  out 
elaborate  systems  of  political  and  social  morality,  and  dinned 
them  into  the  ears  of  whomsoever  would  listen  to  him;  he 
waxed  eloquent  over  the  wrongs  of  his  country,  and  formed 
romantic  projects  of  bettering  its  condition.  And,  so  great 
is  the  power  of  mere  speech,  many  persons  who  listened 
to  him  took  him  at  his  own  valuation,  or  near  it,  and  said  to 
themselves  that  here,  once  more,  was  one  of  the  great  liber- 
ators of  mankind.  Meanwhile  he  drifted  to  and  fro  about 
the  world,  and  got  mixed  up  with  many  things  which  were 
going  on,  and  attained  titles  and  military  rank,  and  really 
made  quite  a  gorgeous  and  impressive  spectacle,  by  the 
glamour  of  which  no  one  was  more  deluded  than  himself. 
He  attained  the  grade  of  captain  in  the  army,  being  at  that 
time  about  two  and  twenty  years  of  age;  the  American 
Revolution  was  in  progress,  and  he  came  north  in  1779  and 
served  a  couple  of  years  in  the  French  contingent  of  the 
American  army.  What  Washington  and  Lafayette  did  for 
the  United  States  he  fancied  himself  capable  of  doing  for 
Colombia.  He  was  in  a  state  of  unremitting  inspiration  and 
stimulation ;  and  as  he  was  still  so  young,  many  who  con- 
versed with  him  may  have  thought  that  he  would  one  day 
make  a  name  for  himself  in  the  world;  and  so  indeed  he  did; 
for  the  world  can  get  some  profit  out  of  even  a  mere  theo- 


296  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

rizer.  Miranda's  notions  were  far  from  being  all  nonsense; 
and  though  he  himself  might  fail  in  the  attempt  to  put  them 
into  practice,  his  words  might  fall  on  ears  where  they  would 
fructify  into  actions.  Had  Miranda  done  nothing  but  the- 
orize, he  would  have  been  a  much  happier  and  more  useful 
man ;  it  was  because  he  mixed  a  little  action  with  his  words 
that  he  wrought  quite  as  much  mischief  as  good  in  his  gen- 
eration, and  obstructed  the  designs  of  better  men  than  he. 

After  visiting  Cuba,  the  young  Venezuelan  went  to  Eu- 
rope; and  in  Russia,  which  was  at  that  time  ruled  by  the 
Empress  Catherine  II.,  he  found  favor  in  that  lady's  eyes, 
and  was  presented  by  her  with  a  pension ;  but  this  did  not 
quench  his  enthusiasm  for  the  cause  of  human  liberty.  He 
reached  France  while  the  Revolution  was  still  in  progress, 
and  entering  into  the  conflict  as  a  matter  of  course,  on  the 
side  of  the  patriots,  he  attained  such  success  as  may  be  indi- 
cated by  the  rank  of  major-general ;  but  in  the  subsequent 
proceedings  he  incurred  the  enmity  of  the  Directory,  and  in 
order  to  save  his  head  was  forced  to  fly  to  that  refuge  of  all 
revolutionists,  England.  Here  he  was  well  received,  as  be- 
came a  man  still  under  forty  who  had  had  so  distinguished 
a  career.  He  talked  to  the  members  of  the  British  govern- 
ment, and  his  words  were  still  about  the  freedom  of  his 
country.  He  sought  to  interest  William  Pitt  in  the  cause ; 
and  he  founded  a  society  of  a  secret  nature,  called  the  Gran 
Reunion  Americana,  the  avowed  object  of  which  was  the 
freeing  from  Spain  of  the  South  American  colonies,  and 
the  influence  of  which  was  felt  far  beyond  the  place  of  its 
birth.  Other  men  eminent  in  South  American  history  were 
connected  with  this  society :  San  Martin,  O'Higgins,  Narino, 
Montufar.  But  the  time  for  overt  acts  was  still  delayed. 
The  contract  to  be  undertaken  was  a  large  one,  and  must 
be  well  canvassed  before  being  put  to  the  touch.  The  Gran 
Reunion  put  off  a  branch  or  sister  society  called  the  Lautaro, 
which  was  established  in  several  Spanish  cities,  and  had  its 
first  American  lodge  in  Buenos  Ayres.  The  Lautaro,  in 
fact,  was  the  more  powerful  organization  of  the  two,  and 


MORE    SPANISH    CIVILIZATION  297 

lasted  quite  through  the  revolutionary  period.  "It  was  not 
a  machine  of  government,  or  of  speculative  propaganda,'* 
remarks  Mitre,  in  his  "Emancipation  of  South  America"; 
"it  was  an  engine  of  revolution,  of  war  against  a  common 
enemy  and  of  defence  against  internal  dangers.  Under  its 
auspices  was  created  the  first  popular  assembly  which  gave 
form  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  people;  to  it  was  due  that 
spirit  of  propaganda  which  characterized  the  Argentine 
revolution,  and  the  maintenance  of  the  alliance  with  Chili, 
which  gave  independence  to  half  the  continent."  In  plan- 
ning the  ideal  republic  the  Spanish  Americans  were  laudably 
successful;  but  in  working  out  the  practical  details  in  the 
field  of  battle  and  in  the  forum  and  cabinet,  they  were 
greatly  hampered,  as  has  before  been  intimated,  by  the 
intrusiveness  of  the  "personal  equation." 

Miranda  continued  to  hover  here  and  there,  never  getting 
his  feet  on  solid  ground,  for  several  years.  A  nature  like 
his  cannot  keep  its  own  counsel,  and  grow  strong  by  re- 
pressed thought;  he  must  ever  be  communicating  his  grand 
ideas  to  some  one,  in  order  that  his  hearer  may  reinforce  his 
own  good  opinion  of  himself  by  praising,  or  at  least  seriously 
criticising,  his  schemes  and  sentiments.  Those  who  knew 
the  man  best  were  not  always  his  best  friends.  "He  is  a 
great  moralizer,"  says  his  quondam  subordinate,  James 
Briggs.  "According  to  his  own  declaration,  vice  and  mean- 
ness in  any  shape  are  quite  abhorrent  to  his  taste  and  judg- 
ment. If  you  take  his  word  for  it,  he  is  a  lover  of  virtue 
even  to  enthusiasm.  To  use  his  own  language,  he  'abomi- 
nates tyranny,  hates  fools,  abhors  flatterers,  detests  pride, 
and  laments  the  corruption  of  modern  days.  *  He  loves  free- 
dom, admires  candor,  esteems  wise  men,  respects  humility, 
and  delights  in  that  noble  and  beautiful  integrity  and  good 
faith  which  distinguished  the  golden  times  of  antiquity.  He 
would  renovate  the  perverted  minds  of  mankind  and  restore 
the  ancient  beatitudes,  when  every  excellence  and  virtue 
prevailed  among  men,  for  the  happiness  of  the  present  race, 
and  the  perpetual  prosperity  of  future  generations."  James 


298  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

Briggs  knew  Miranda  a  little  too  well.  How  often  had  hu 
been  bored  to  extinction,  and  then  again  revived  to  a  mur- 
derous vivacity,  by  hearing  such  stale  cant  and  empty  whip- 
syllabub  as  the  above  served  up  over  and  over  again,  and 
with  renewed  zest  to  every  untried  listener,  while,  all  the 
time,  the  utterer  of  them  was  more  and  more  unmistakably 
a  creature  of  very  common  clay,  differing  from  ordinary 
men  only  in  the  vain  fancy  that  he  was  not  ordinary,  but 
was  everything  that  he  could  find  in  moral  and  classic  his- 
tory that  was  sublime  and  apocryphal.  But  he  did  know 
enough  to  vary  his  note  somewhat  according  to  the  calibre 
and  power  of  his  auditor.  Thus,  in  a  letter  of  his  to  Thomas 
Jefferson,  from  whom  he  hoped  for  assistance,  he  gives  us 
a  specimen  of  his  fawning  and  flattering  style.  "If,"  he 
exclaims,  "the  happy  prediction  which  you  have  pronounced 
on  the  future  destiny  of  our  dear  Colombia  is  to  be  accom- 
plished in  our  day,  may  Providence  grant  that  it  may  be 
under  your  own  auspices  and  by  the  generous  efforts  of  her 
own  children.  We  shall  then  in  some  sort  behold  the  arrival 
of  that  age,  the  return  of  which  the  Roman  bard  invoked 
in  favor  of  the  human  race" — and  he  proceeds  to  quote  a 
verse  from  an  Eclogue  of  Virgil!  But  Jefferson  was  not 
to  be  caught  by  such  chaff.  At  the  time  this  letter  was 
written,  Jefferson  was  in  the  midst  of  his  second  term  a* 
President,  and  the  conspiracy  of  Aaron  Burr  was  yet  befoul- 
ing the  land  with  the  ill  odor  of  its  futile  intent.  But  Miran- 
da had  been  at  work  in  this  country  as  far  back  as  Adams's 
time.  There  was  a  plot  on  foot  to  undertake  an  expedition 
against  the  Spanish  American  colonies  under  the  joint  pro- 
tection of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  to  enable 
those  colonies  to  free  themselves  from  the  Spanish  yoke. 
Spain  was  at  that  moment  in  alliance  with  France.  Great 
Britain  would  have  provided  the  ships  of  war  for  the  proj- 
ect, and  the  United  States  the  army ;  if  the  affair  succeeded, 
Great  Britain  was  to  get  as  her  reward  the  West  Indies  as  a 
market  for  her  manufactures,  and  right  of  travel  across  the 
Isthmus;  and  the  United  States  would  have  Florida  and  all 


MORE    SPANISH    CIVILIZATION  299 

Spanish  Louisiana  east  of  the  Mississippi.  Miranda  was  in 
secret  conference  with  several  of  our  public  men  at  this  time 
regarding  the  plan,  and  England,  being  desirous  to  stave  off 
the  threatened  invasion  of  her  coast  by  Napoleon,  was  very 
ready  to  secure  the  United  States  as  an  ally.  Our  Alexander 
Hamilton,  who  was  ever  disposed  to  look  for  glory  beyond 
the  routine  confines  of  the  political  field,  was  counted  upon 
for  support,  which  would  be  especially  valuable  by  reason 
of  his  great  weight  in  our  diplomacy.  It  is  probable  that 
had  Hamilton  followed  his  own  preferences,  the  expedition 
would  have  been  undertaken.  He  was  in  confidential  corre- 
spondence with  Miranda  in  1798,  and  expected  to  be  himself 
the  leader  of  the  American  forces.  Miranda,  who  was  at  the 
moment  in  London,  replied  that  all  would  be  ready  in  Eng- 
land as  soon  as  the  United  States  should  give  the  word. 
Fortunately,  however,  Hamilton  was  not  able  to  give  the 
word,  because  Adams,  who  was  President,  was  not  inclined 
to  go  into  the  enterprise ;  he  counted  the  cost  of  this  invad- 
ing army  of  Americans,  and  could  not  see  where  the  returns 
came  in.  "Regiments  are  costly  articles,"  he  said,  "and 
at  present  there  is  no  more  prospect  of  seeing  a  French  army 
here  than  there  is  in  Heaven."  In  other  words,  he  was  not 
in  favor  of  fighting  France  for  Miranda's  sake,  or  even  for 
the  sake  of  giving  Hamilton  a  chance  to  win  military  glory. 
Accordingly,  poor  Miranda  was  kept  waiting  for  "the  word" 
which  he  was  destined  never  to  hear;  and  with  that  oppor- 
tunity his  best  chance  of  getting  other  nations  to  back  his 
efforts  disappeared. 

Had  all  South  American  revolutionists  been  like  Miranda, 
Spain  might  still  be  holding  undisturbed  possession  of  the 
territory.  But  such  men  as  San  Martin  and  Bolivar  had 
no  relish  for  hanging  round  the  back  doors  of  foreign  gov- 
ernments, begging  for  armies  and  ships  to  do  their  fighting 
and  liberating  for  them.  Nations  are  not  wont  to  indulge 
iu  altruistic  adventures  for  the  benefit  of  their  neighbors, 
unless  they  are  assured  of  receiving  at  least  as  much  as  they 
give.  Bolivar  and  San  Martin  had  divined  this  truth,  and 


300  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

conducted  themselves  accordingly.  They  knew  that  Spain 
had  no  friends  for  her  own  sake;  but  she  could  count  on 
what  was  just  as  good — friends  for  the  sake  of  the  use  she 
could  serve  to  others.  Nations  that  took  part  in  freeing 
South  America  from  Spain  would  do  so  only  in  order  to  se- 
cure South  America  for  themselves.  And  though  it  might 
be  true  that  any  tyranny  was  preferable  to  that  of  the  mother 
country,  still,  if  South  American  blood  was  to  be  shed  at  all, 
it  might  better  be  independently  than  as  the  cat's-paw  of 
others. 

Having  failed  in  his  international  conspiracy,  Miranda 
left  London  and  appeared  in  New  York  about  1806.  He 
must  attempt  something,  or  be  finally  discredited.  There 
were  at  that  time  plenty  of  persons  in  our  country  who  were 
ready  to  undertake  any  sort  of  enterprise  that  promised 
adventure  and  profit;  and  the  vague  notion  that  South 
America  was  the  land  of  gold  still  prevailed  in  many  idle 
and  ill-informed  minds.  Miranda  was  voluble,  grandiloquent 
and  plausible  as  ever,  and  he  was  able  to  make  out  a  promis- 
ing case  for  his  project.  This  project  was,  to  collect  a  band 
of  heroes,  sail  for  Venezuela,  proclaim  a  republic,  and  then 
trust  to  luck.  It  was  practically  certain,  according  to  him, 
that  the  Venezuelans  would  promptly  rally  to  his  standard, 
and  overthrow  the  tyrants.  And  when  England  and  the 
United  States  saw  that  fortune  was  inclining  his  way,  they 
would  be  willing  to  give  whatever  moral  or  even  physical 
support  might  be  needed  to  clinch  the  success  of  the  advent- 
ure. Having  got  his  followers  together,  not  all  of  whom 
clearly  understood  what  was  really  in  the  wind,  he  set  sail 
from  New  York,  and  on  the  15th  of  February  arrived  at  the 
port  of  Jaquamel  in  San  Domingo.  He  was  provided  with 
a  tricolor  flag,  and  with  a  printing-press  for  the  printing  of 
the  indispensable  proclamations  and  manifestoes.  These 
documents  were  addressed  to  the  People  of  South  America, 
and  were  signed  by  Don  Francisco  Miranda,  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  the  Colombian  Army  of  South  America.  They 
drew  a  moving  picture  of  the  wrongs  and  oppressions  under 


MORE    SPANISH    CIVILIZATION  301 

which  the  people  were  groaning,  and  painted  in  vivid  colors 
the  advantages  of  freedom  and  glory  which  the  Commander- 
in-Chief  was  prepared  to  bestow  upon  them.  Those  mem- 
bers of  the  expedition  who  had  been  given  brevet  rank  as 
officers  were  now  called  up,  and  their  full  commissions  were 
issued  to  them,  Miranda  constituting  himself  the  fountain 
of  honor  for  the  occasion..  All  this  having  been  done,  a 
delay  occurred,  for  it  had  been  announced  that  the  army  was 
to  be  reinforced  by  two  other  ships,  the  "Cleopatra"  and  the 
"Emperor,"  American  merchantmen,  which  had  been  or- 
dered to  rendezvous  at  Jaquamel.  The  name  of  Miranda's 
own  vessel  was  the  "Leander. "  The  other  two  ships  not 
arriving  according  to  contract,  Captain  Lewis  and  Major 
Smith  were  sent  to  Port  au  Prince  to  find  out  what  was  the 
matter.  They  returned  in  due  time,  and  reported  that  noth- 
ing was  discoverable  concerning  the  reinforcements  in  ques- 
tion. "What  was  to  be  done?  The  Army  of  Liberation 
numbered  little  more  than  one  hundred  men;  South  Amer- 
ica is  a  large  place,  and  the  Spaniards  had  more  than  a 
hundred  soldiers  there.  Finally,  two  small  unarmed  schoon- 
ers were  obtained — the  "Bee"  and  the  "Bacchus" — and 
desperate  efforts  were  made  to  raise  more  men;  but  after 
all  was  said  and  done,  the  total  force  at  Miranda's  disposal, 
including  the  sailors,  did  not  exceed  two  hundred.  But  two 
hundred  heroes  can  do  much,  if  they  stick  together,  and  take 
an  oath  to  be  true  and  faithful  to  the  cause,  and  to  obey  the 
orders  of  the  "supreme  government."  This  oath  was  ac- 
cordingly administered,  with  all  solemnity;  and  the  officers 
subscribed  to  an  additional  instrument  binding  them  to  be 
governed  by  the  articles  of  war  of  the  United  States,  modi- 
fied according  as  the  usages  of  the  different  foreign  govern- 
ments under  which  they  might  find  themselves  should 
require.  Having  thus  given  the  enterprise  all  the  formality 
possible,  strict  discipline  was  enforced  upon  all  the  members, 
and  the  army  was  apparently  ready  for  business. 

But  the  readiness  was  hardly  unanimous.     The  sailors 
on  board  the  "Bee,"  awakening  to  the  actual  facts  of  their 


302  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

position,  and  being  wholly  unfired  by  the  prospect  of  freeing 
South  America,  vehemently  desired  to  escape  from  their  pre- 
dicament forthwith,  and  tried  to  devise  means  to  get  away. 
But  they  were  without  arms;  and  at  the  crisis  of  their  at- 
tempt, the  men  of  the  "Leander"  came  to  the  assistance 
of  the  "Bee"  officers,  quelled  the  mutiny,  put  the  ringlead- 
ers in  irons,  and  produced  the  outward  appearance  of  subjec- 
tion. But  it  was  apparent  only,  for  the  purpose  to  desert 
was  as  ardent  as  ever.  Sail  was  now  made  upon  the  fleet, 
however,  and  there  ensued  ten  days  of  cruising  on  the  blue 
waters  of  the  Caribbean,  the  destination  being  the  little  island 
of  Bonair  or  Buen  Ayre,  one  of  a  group  of  three  owned  by 
the  Dutch,  off  the  northern  coast  of  Venezuela,  and  some 
seventy  miles  east  of  the  Gulf  of  Venezuela.  But  the  pilot 
was  out  in  his  reckoning,  and  brought  the  fleet  directly  to 
the  gulf  itself.  This  would  never  do;  so  they  put  about, 
and  after  some  trouble  and  anxiety,  succeeded  in  making  the 
island  of  Aruba,  one  of  the  above-mentioned  group,  to  the 
west  of  Bonair.  It  was  now  the  4th  of  April,  1806. 

While  lying  at  this  port,  there  arrived  a  mysterious 
English  schooner  called  the  "Echo,"  which  was  said  to  be 
engaged  in  the  smuggling  trade ;  her  captain,  Phillips,  com- 
municated with  Miranda,  and  received  from  him  certain 
sealed  dispatches;  after  which  he  sailed  away,  and  never 
appeared  again.  The  fleet  began  beating  up  to  the  east- 
ward, and  on  April  24th  was  within  sight  of  Bonair;  but 
the  English  frigates  which  Miranda  professed  to  be  expect- 
ing had  not  been  heard  of.  By  this  time  the  alarm  and  dis- 
affection which  had  come  to  open  expression  on  board  the 
"Bee,"  began  to  spread  over  the  rest  of  the  fleet  and  army; 
and  Miranda  had  nothing  but  words  to  combat  it  withal. 
But  he  made  such  good  use  of  his  resources  in  this  respect, 
that  finally  a  sort  of  hollow  accord  was  patched  up;  the  men 
were  to  receive  thirty  dollars  a  month  pay,  with  a  bounty  of 
fifty  dollars  to  all  who  should  have  achieved  warlike  distinc- 
tion at  the  close  of  the  campaign ;  together  with  other  rewards 
and  advantages  more  or  less  explicit  and  alluring.  It  was. 


MORE    SPANISH    CIVILIZATION  303 

not  dazzling,  but  it  was  accompanied  by  so  much  talk  about 
glory  and  honor  that  it  passed,  for  the  time  being,  with  many 
of  the  men.  Others  were  not  so  readily  persuaded.  They 
had  been  hurried  into  the  scrape  without  any  clear  idea  of 
its  nature;  but  they  now  reflected  that  the  United  States 
was  not  at  war  with  Spain,  and  that  if  they  met  with  dis- 
aster, they  could  not  look  to  the  United  States  to  help  them. 
On  the  other  hand,  what  was  thirty  dollars  a  month,  and 
contingencies?  They  resolved  to  vanish.  Two  men,  Davis 
and  Sperry,  undertook  to  find  out  upon  whom  they  could 
rely.  The  plot  was  in  a  promising  condition,  when  it  was 
discovered;  and  just  at  that  juncture  two  Spanish  ships 
happened  into  the  port,  and  an  action  took  place.  "After 
some  broadsides  exchanged  between  the  armed  vessels  on 
both  sides,"  says  Moses  Smith,  in  his  contemporary  narra- 
tive, "they  were  ordered  to  board  the  enemy  on  the  lee  side, 
while  the  'Leander'  was  to  attack  and  board  the  ship  on  the 
weather  side.  They  obeyed  their  orders;  but  before  they 
could  accomplish  them,  to  their  inexpressible  astonishment, 
they  saw  the  'Leander'  (with  Miranda  on  board)  haul  down 
her  colors  and  make  off !  The  remaining  ships  were  boarded 
and  taken  by  the  Spaniards.  The  men  were  plundered, 
stripped  and  rifled;  and  so  impatient  were  the  conquerors 
for  the  booty,  that  before  they  took  time  to  pull  the  clothes 
off,  they  first  cut  the  pockets  to  make  sure  of  the  contents. 
So  expert  were  they  in  this  inglorious  kind  of  warfare  that 
they  seldom  failed  to  clear  away  the  pocket  with  a  single 
stroke.  The  prisoners  were  next  pinioned  and  secured,  tied 
back  to  back,  and  in  that  humiliating  posture  conveyed  to 
Porto  Cabello.  There  they  were  disembarked  and  driven 
into  the  castle  of  St.  Philip,  chained  two  and  two,  and 
loaded  with  irons.  They  were  divided  into  two  parties  of 
about  thirty  each,  the  whole  number  taken  in  the  two 
schooners  amounting  to  about  sixty.  They  were  then 
thrown  into  two  separate  dungeons,  and  suffered  inde- 
scribable privations.  Their  trial  took  place  toward  the 
end  of  June.  It  was  not  till  the  20th  of  July  that  their 


304  HISTORY   OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

doom  was  announced  to  them.  On  that  day  their  prison 
doors  were  thrown  open,  and  they  were  told  by  an  inter- 
preter that  they  must  come  out  and  be  hanged.  The  names 
of  ten  of  the  prisoners,  all  officers  in  Miranda's  army,  were 
first  called,  and  the  interpreter  read  this  sentence  from  a 
paper  he  held: — 'In  the  morning  of  to-morrow,  at  six 
o'clock,  you,  and  each  of  you,  are  sentenced  to  be  hanged 
by  the  neck  until  you  are  dead ;  after  which  your  heads  are 
to  be  severed  from  your  bodies,  placed  upon  poles,  and  dis- 
tributed in  the  most  public  parts  of  the  country. '  The  re- 
mainder, being  nineteen  in  number,  were  sentenced  to  eight 
years'  imprisonment  in  the  castle  of  Boca  Chica,  near  Carta- 
gena: which  sentences  were  all  executed." 

Thus  was  the  Grand  Army  of  Liberation  obliterated  by 
a  couple  of  scurvy  Spanish  brigs,  before  it  had  so  much  as 
set  foot  on  Spanish  dry  land,  or  made  its  existence  known 
to  the  waiting  myriads  of  South  Americans  who  were  al- 
leged to  have  been  expecting  its  arrival.  The  disgraceful 
poltroonery  of  Miranda  is  so  wholly  vile  and  inexcusable, 
that  it  is  nothing  less  than  a  marvel  that  he  ever  ventured 
to  show  his  face  among  men  again.  But  men  of  his  kidney 
can  talk  themselves  into  heroics  at  the  very  moment  they  are 
being  kicked  by  justly  irate  critics;  and  incredible  though 
it  seems,  he  outlived  this  affair,  and  achieved  a  conspicuous- 
ness  which,  while  it  lasted,  must  have  seemed  miraculous 
even  to  himself.  Never  was  mortal  afforded  better  opportu- 
nities to  distinguish  himself  than  this  jackdaw  enjoyed ;  nor 
did  any  one  ever  make  worse  use  of  them.  We  shall  be 
obliged  to  bring  him  forward  once  more.  But  before  doing 
so  we  shall  take  the  reader  back  into  the  sixteenth  century, 
to  pick  up  the  thread  of  the  career  of  Cortes — a  person  of 
a  character  sufficiently  contrasted  with  that  of  Miranda. 
Mexico  has  been  all  this  while  developing  on  lines  of  her 
own,  and  it  behooves  us  to  trace  rapidly  the  circumstances 
which  brought  her  to  her  present  position. 


THE    SEQUEL    OF    CORTES  305 


VI 

THE  SEQUEL  OF  CORTES 

WE  left  Cortes  at  the  conclusion  of  the  siege  of 
Mexico  City,  or  Tenochtitlaii ;  one  of  the  bloodi- 
est sieges  of  history,  if  all  that  is  told  of  it  be 
true.  The  city  had  been  defended  by  the  young  successor 
of  Montezuma,  Cuahtemoc;  he  was  captured  on  the  13th 
of  August,  1521,  and  brought  before  Cortes.  He  is  de- 
scribed as  a  manly  youth,  grandly  proportioned,  handsome 
of  face  and  fearless  of  bearing.  Cortes,  with  Malina  beside 
him,  stood  on  an  elevation,  from  which  he  had  been  direct- 
ing the  siege.  The  young  Aztec  chief  was  as  brave  a  man 
as  the  -Spaniard,  and  there  was  none  of  the  feebleness  of 
Montezuma  in  his  make-up.  His  defeat  did  not  diminish 
the  pride  and  serenity  of  his  behavior.  His  eyes  met  those 
of  Cortes,  and  he  laid  his  hand  on  the  dagger  in  the  latter's 
girdle.  "Kill  me,  I  ask  you  that  favor,"  said  he.  "I  have 
done  what  I  could  for  my  people."  But  Cortes,  who  hoped 
to  learn  from  the  other  where  the  treasures  of  Montezuma 
were  concealed,  assured  the  chief  that  he  desired  his  welfare 
and  friendship;  and  he  and  his  wife  were  treated  for  a  while 
with  great  courtesy  and  consideration.  While  the  city  was 
being  rebuilt  under  Cortes's  direction,  he  tried  to  lead  the 
captive  to  reveal  the  secret,  and  the  Spanish  soldiers  sought 
everywhere  for  the  hoai'd,  which  was  believed  to  rival  that 
of  the  fabulous  Niebelungen.  But  they  could  find  no  traces 
of  it,  and  as  Cuahtemoc  remained  mute,  in  spite  of  all  blan- 
dishments, the  chivalrous  Cortes  changed  his  tactics,  and 
threatened  him  with  torture.  Threats  did  not  move  the 
Aztec;  and  at  the  Conqueror's  command,  and  to  his  ever- 
lasting shame,  Cuahtemoc's  feet  were  put  into  burning  oil; 
as  were  also  those  of  the  chief  of  Tlacopan,  who  was  sus- 


306  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

pected  of  sharing  the  knowledge  of  the  hiding-place.  But 
all  was  in  vain ;  Cortes  had  his  infamy  for  his  pains.  The 
treasure  was  never  found;  it  was  thought  to  have  been 
thrown  into  the  lake,  but  no  dredging  or  diving  could  get 
up  an  ounce  of  it.  Treasure-seekers  have  hunted  for  it  ever 
since,  with  as  little  success.  Possibly  it  had  been  taken 
away  in  small  parcels  by  faithful  servants;  or  perhaps  there 
was  no  treasure.  But  there  will  always  remain  the  convic- 
tion in  the  minds  of  many  people  that  somewhere  near  the 
city  of  Tenochtitlan  a  vast  quantity  of  gold  and  precious 
stones  lies  buried,  to  reward  the  fortunate  person  whom 
chance,  or  the  divining-rod,  or  some  ancient  chart  or  tra- 
dition, may  lead  to  it.  Meanwhile,  the  romancers  have  a 
free  field. 

The  remaining  days  of  Cuahtemoc  were  few  and  evil; 
after  lingering  in  his  agony,  he  and  his  fellow-captives 
were  finally  hanged  on  a  false  charge  of  conspiracy,  at 
the  town  of  Izancapac,  of  the  Tabascans.  The  execution 
of  these  brave  and  innocent  men  marked  the  end  of  the 
Aztecan  rule  in  Mexico.  There  were  no  subsequent  revolts 
of  the  natives;  and  the  remaining  chiefs,  having  submitted, 
were  allowed  to  die  by  the  course  of  nature.  Such  of  the 
tribes  as  were  unwilling  to  live  under  Spanish  rule,  retired 
to  the  mountains,  where  their  descendants  may  yet  be 
found.  There  were  no  Araucanians  in  Mexico,  to  carry 
on  a  war  for  centuries.  The  deserts  and  sierras  on  the  out- 
skirts of  the  settled  regions  were  full  of  peril  for  travellers 
from  the  sudden  attacks  of  these  wild  tribes,  whose  manner 
of  life  resembled  in  some  respects  that  of  the  Arabs  of  the 
African  Sahara.  But  there  was  never  any  systematic  or 
combined  effort  on  the  part  of  the  Indians  to  recapture 
Tenochtitlan,  or  to  drive  out  the  invaders.  By  them,  as 
by  all  men,  the  Spaniards  were  hated;  but  they  acquiesced 
in  the  situation;  and  Mexico,  in  consequence,  rapidly  be- 
came a  Spanish  province. 

After  the  city  had  been  repaired  in  some  measure,  the 
country  was  placed  umder  martial  law,  with  certain  unim- 


THE    SEQUEL   OF   CORTES  307 

portant  indulgences  to  some  of  the  chiefs,  who  were  per- 
mitted to  keep  the  name  while  losing  the  reality  of  power. 
Cortes  himself  was  the  ruler;  his  titles,  self-imposed,  indi- 
cated that  he  commanded  in  civil  affairs,  in  military  mat- 
ters, and  in  the  courts  of  justice.  Cortes  then  proceeded  to 
reduce  his  kingdom  systematically ;  he  sent  forth  expeditions 
to  outlying  places,  and  generally  received  the  submission  of 
the  chiefs  without  the  necessity  of  fighting  for  it.  •  None  was 
so  confident  in  his  strength  as  to  believe  that  where  Monte- 
zuma  and  Cuahtemoc  had  failed,  he  could  succeed.  We  can 
imagine  these  picturesque  barbarians  journeying,  one  after 
the  other,  to  the  famous  valley,  to  pay  their  respects  to  the 
great  white  chief,  and  to  view  the  ruins  of  his  victory. 
Many  of  these  chiefs  were  terrorized  into  accepting  the 
Christian  faith,  as  interpreted  and  administered  by  the 
Spaniards.  During  the  ensuing  three  years,  the  territory 
of  New  Spain,  as  Mexico  was  for  a  time  called,  was  ex- 
tended as  far  as  Honduras.  Over  this  comparatively  un- 
known region  Cortes  set  one  of  his  officers,  Christobel  de 
Olid,  who,  presuming  too  much  on  his  distance  from  the 
centre  of  affairs,  had  the  temerity  to  set  up  in  business  on 
his  private  account.  Cortes  was  not  the  man  to  endure 
rivals ;  he  set  out  for  Honduras,  and  Olid  lost  his  satrapy 
and  his  life.  Meanwhile  the  work  of  obliterating  all  ves- 
tiges of  the  native  religion  and  dominion  went  on.  The 
Aztec  war-gods  were  cast  down  and  their  temples  destroyed ; 
the  picture-written  records  were  burned,  upon  the  plea  that 
they  were  magical  documents,  allied  with  the  evil  practices 
of  heathendom;  and  gradually  the  distinctive  names  of  the 
tribes  themselves  were  abolished,  and  all  alike  were  given 
the  indiscriminate  name  of  Indians.  It  was  no  doubt  a  gain 
for  decency  and  comfort  that  the  human  sacrifices  were  done 
away  with ;  but  in  other  respects  the  civilization  imposed  by 
Spain  was  perhaps  not  greatly  to  be  preferred  to  that  of  the 
Aztecs ;  in  some  features  it  was  inferior  thereto.  Such  as  it 
was,  the  natives  accommodated  themselves  to  it  as  best  they 
might,  and  in  spite  of  the  enormous  slaughter  occasioned  by 
—  14 


308  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

the  Conquest,  there  were  enough  of  them  left  to  make  a  fair 
beginning.  The  Nahuatl  race  was  a  remarkable  one,  and 
their  only  serious  fault  seems  to  have  been  their  indulgence 
in  the  rites  of  blood.  But  even  this  was  probably  objec- 
tionable to  the  majority  of  them ;  so  that  the  Spaniards,  in 
causing  them  to  discontinue  the  practice,  could  actually  be 
credited  with  having  done  some  good  in  the  world. 

The  Spanish  government,  as  we  have  seen,  was  at  first 
a  military  autocracy,  of  which  Cortes  was  the  head.  But 
he  had  the  good  sense  not  to  attempt  to  carry  it  entirely 
alone.  He  gathered  around  him  the  more  distinguished  and 
able  of  his  followers,  constituting  of  them  a  sort  of  advisory 
board,  which  he  called  the  Ayuntamiento.  To  this  body, 
which  was  maintained  during  his  reign,  he  delegated  the 
business  of  founding  new  cities,  and  of  dispensing  lands  to 
colonists;  of  creating  regular  markets,  and  of  instituting 
sanitary  measures  and  seeing  that  the  laws  of  the  realm 
were  carried  out.  The  laws  in  question  were  often  so 
sound  and  just  that  they  survive  to  this  day.  Cortes  also 
provided  against  trouble  in  Spain  by  sending  periodical 
consignments  of  gold  to  the  king,  and  by  referring  all  his 
conquests  and  acts  of  sovereignty  to  the  Spanish  throne. 
"When  we  consider  that  he  was  at  this  time  only  about  five- 
and-thirty  years  of  age,  we  must  concede  to  him  the  posses- 
sion of  remarkable  genius  both  in  war  and  in  diplomacy; 
and  he  compares  well  with  the  other  eminent  conquistadores 
of  his  epoch.  But  he  had  his  foibles;  and  among  them  was 
his  treatment  of  Malina. 

This  girl,  as  has  been  shown  in  the  course  of  our  narra- 
tive, had  been  his  constant  companion  throughout  his  ad- 
ventures in  the  land  of  New  Spain.  She  was  not  only  dear 
to  him  in  her  capacity  as  a  beautiful  and  intelligent  woman, 
but  she  was  invaluable  as  an  interpreter,  and  as  one  who 
knew  the  customs  and  traits  of  the  Aztec  people.  By  his 
command,  she  was  always  treated  with  respect  by  his  offi- 
cers, and  her  position  was  the  same  as  if  she  had  been  his 
lawful  wife.  She  was  faithful  and  courageous;  and  during 


THE    SEQUEL    OF    CORTES  309 

his  darkest  hours  she  always  remained  confident  and  cheer- 
ful. During  the  Noche  Triste  she  was  cared  for  by  a  de- 
tachment of  Tlaxcallans,  and  throughout  the  dangerous  days 
that  followed  she  was  always  by  his  side.  If  ever  woman 
merited  undying  gratitude  from  man,  Malina  was  she. 

After  the  siege  was  over,  Cortes  went  to  reside  at  the 
neighboring  town  of  Coyoacan,  and  Malina  was  with  him 
there.  It  was  her  hour  of  felicity.  The  man  whom  she  re- 
garded as  the  chief  of  heroes  had  triumphed  over  all  obsta- 
cles, and  was  in  the  position  of  highest  dignity  and  power. 
She  lived  in  the  style  of  a  queen,  with  a  palace  and  attend- 
ants, and  meeting  with  respect  and  praise  from  all.  Her 
union  with  Cortes  had  resulted  in  the  birth  of  a  son,  to 
whom  she  gave  the  name  of  her  lover.  She  looked  for- 
ward to  a  long  life  of  happiness  with  the  man  of  her  heart. 
Whether  or  not  Cortes  had  ever  happened  to  mention  to 
Malina  the  fact  that  he  had  a  wife  in  Cuba  we  are  not  cer- 
tainly informed ;  he  may  have  thought  other  topics  of  con- 
versation more  expedient;  but  that  he  did  have  a  wife  there 
is  no  doubt;  and  there  is  a  romantic  story  connected  with 
the  marriage.  The  lady  was  Dona  Catalina  Juarez,  who 
was  living  in  Hispaniola  at  the  time  of  Cortes's  arrival  there. 
Cortes,  then  an  unknown  young  man,  fell  hi  love  with  the 
lady,  whose  attractions  were  unfortunately  so  great  that  she 
had  already  won  the  devotion  of  the  governor,  Velasquez. 
Naturally,  jealousy  was  engendered  between  the  two  men; 
but  all  the  power  was  in  the  hands  of  Velasquez,  and  he 
used  it  against  his  rival.  He  pursued  Cortes  with  every 
species  of  persecution,  and  though  he  did  not  venture  to 
put  him  to  death,  he  had  him  arrested  on  some  trumped-up 
charge,  and  cast  into  a  dungeon — which,  in  a  country  like 
Hispaniola,  meant  a  good  chance  of  death  by  disease  and 
misery.  But  Cortes  had  his  career  still  before  him,  and 
meanwhile  was  too  full  of  life,  love  and  enterprise  to  submit 
to  confinement ;  he  contrived  to  get  out  of  his  cell,  and  took 
refuge  in  a  church,  hoping  to  plead  successfully  the  right  of 
sanctuary.  But  either  by  some  indiscretion  of  his  own,  or 


310  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMEK1CA 

by  the  unrelenting  purpose  of  his  adversary,  he  was  again 
captured,  and  this  time  he  was  thrown  into  the  hold  of  a 
ship,  with  a  chain  round  his  leg.     Even  this  was  insufficient 
to  hold  or  subdue  him ;  he  procured  a  small  boat  which  con- 
vejred  him  from  the  ship,  and  from  the  boat  he  reached  the 
shore  by  swimming.     He  now  sought  sanctuary  once  more ; 
there  was  nothing  else  for  a  prisoner  in  Hispaniola  to  do; 
and  finally  matters  were  accommodated  between  him  and 
the  governor,  and  the  marriage  of  Cortes  and  Dona  Catalina 
took  place  with  all  the  formalities  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
The  lovers  had  no  doubt  been  forced  into  each  other's  arms 
by  the  very  efforts  which  were  made  to  keep  them  apart ; 
and  were  not  well  enough  acquainted  with  each  other's  in- 
terior character  to  know  whether  or  not  they  were'  adapted 
to  a  life  of  matrimonial  felicity.     At  all  events,  Velasquez, 
having  yielded  his  point,  made  handsome  amends  for  his 
former  actions  by  appointing  Cortes  Alcalde  of  Santiago  de 
Cuba,  where  he  went  to  live  with  his  wife;  and  when  the 
quarrel  with   Grijalva  occurred,   the  commission  to  go  to 
Mexico  was  offered  to  Cortes,  and  gladly  accepted.     But 
he  made  no  provision  to  carry  Catalina  with  him :  already 
that  rose  had  lost  its  sweetness  for  him.     It  is  even  asserted 
that  had  Cortes  been  left  wholly  free  in  the  matter,  he  would 
never  have  married  the  lady  at  all ;  but  she  had  taken  an- 
other view  of  the  situation,  and  had  been  convinced  that 
since  Velasquez  had  given  her  up,  it  was  to  the  interest  of 
her  reputation  to  marry  the  other  man.     Be  that  as  it  may, 
time    enough    had    elapsed    for    their    relations   to   become 
strained;    there   was  no   love  lost   between   the   pair,  and 
Cortes  took  his  departure  with  a  distinct  feeling  of  relief. 
Catalina  vanished  from  history  during  the  time  of  his  war- 
ring against  the  Aztecs ;  but  after  he  had  become  settled  in 
his  new  kingdom,  she  thought  it  well  to  join  him;  there  was 
no  longer  any  question  of  conjugal  affection,  but  only  of 
conjugal  rights;    Cortes  was  a  famous  and  powerful  man, 
and  she  might  as  well  enjoy  the  advantages  of  his  emi- 
nence. 


THE    SEQUEL    OF    CORTES  311 

Her  arrival  was  doubtless  unwelcome  to  her  husband; 
but  the  Catholic  Church  is  very  particular  regarding  the 
inviolability  of  marriage,  and  Cortes  could  not  venture  to 
defy  its  law.     Dona  Catalina  made  a  magnificent  entry  into 
Mexico  City,  and  assumed  her  legal  position  as  head  of  the 
governor's  establishment.    Malina  had  her  rights  too,  as  she 
thought ;  but  Cortes,  despite  his  courage  and  diplomatic  gen- 
ius, was  unequal  to  this  test,  and  gave  her  to  understand 
that  her  day  was  past.     She  appealed  to  the  priest,  Father 
Olmedo,  who  had  baptized  her  and  given  her  her  Christian 
education ;  but  he  had  no  help  to  give  her,  except  to  exhort 
her  to  make  use  of  all  such  Christian  virtues  as  might  be  at 
her  disposal.     Accordingly,  the  unhappy  woman  departed; 
but  the  story  was  not  yet  finished.     Dona  Catalina  was  not 
destined  long  to  enjoy  her   triumph;  it  was  officially  an- 
nounced that  the  rare  atmosphere  of  the  Mexican  plateau 
did  not  agree  with  her  constitution,  brought  up  as  she  had 
been  in  the  soft,  relaxing  air  of  the  Antilles;  and  the  next 
thing  that  was  known,  she  suddenly  died.     It  is  possible, 
no  doubt,  that  the  official  explanation  is  true,  and  that  the 
cause  of  her  demise  was  a  normal  inability  to  draw  her  breath 
at  an  elevation  of  seven  thousand  feet  above  the  sea.     But 
there  is  a  persistent  tradition,  which  most  people  incline  to 
believe,  that  her  end  came  owing  to  the  direct  action  of  her 
husband,  who  took  her  bodily  and  dropped  her  into  a  well; 
and  visitors  to  Mexico  are  still  shown  the  self-same  well  which 
is  alleged  to  have  been  the  means  of  her  end.     The  tale  may 
do  Cortes  injustice;  but  certain  it  is  that  from  this  time  his 
fortunes  began  to  wane.     The  suspicion  pursued  him,  and 
circumstances    seemed    to   give   the    accusation    substance. 
When  he  was  preparing  for  his  expedition  to  Honduras  to 
subdue  Olid,  it  became  necessary  to  include  an  interpreter  in 
his  retinue;  and  who  so  fitted  for  the  post  as  his  old  friend 
Malina.     She  was  accordingly  installed  in  that  position,  and 
they  set  out.     But  people  began  to  talk,  saying  that  the 
death  of  Catalina  had  happened  very  opportunely;  and  the 
talk  finally  became  so  audible,  that  Cortes  was  forced  to 


312  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

take  notice  of  it.  If  the  belief  gained  ground  that  he  had 
murdered  his  wife,  it  was  not  likely  that  the  court  of  Spain 
would  permit  him  to  represent  it  in  New  Spain.  Something 
must  be  done  to  down  the  report.  Unfortunately  for  Malina, 
she  supplied  the  most  convincing  means  of  proving  Cortes 's 
innocence.  If  he  had  killed  Catalina,  it  must  have  been  for 
Malina 's  sake.  In  order,  then,  to  show  that  no  such  motive 
could  have  actuated  him,  he  commanded  Malina  to  marry 
one  of  his  officers,  Don  Juan  de  Jaramillo.  Evidently,  when 
love  and  ambition  came  into  conflict  in  Cortes's  heart,  it 
would  never  be  love  that  got  the  better  of  the  encounter. 
Malina  hardly  knew  Jaramillo  by  sight :  but  she  submitted 
to  her  fate,  and  went  through  the  form  of  becoming  his  wife 
by  rites  of  Church.  It  is  added  by  the  chroniclers,  however, 
that  she  never  lived  with  the  man,  but  immediately  with- 
drew to  the  place  where  she  was  born,  the  little  pueblo  of 
Painala,  near  the  eastern  coast.  Here,  in  the  days  before 
the  invasion,  she  had  lived  with  her  father,  who  had  been 
a  notable  chief  under  Montezuma;  and  as  a  child  she  had 
enjoyed  all  the  barbaric  luxuries  which  her  station  afforded. 
But  her  father  died  when  she  was  eleven  years  old  (she  was 
born  in  1502)  and  her  mother  married  again,  and  had  a  son 
by  her  new  husband.  The  son  was  thereupon  preferred  to 
Malina,  and  an  attempt  was  even  made  to  prove  that  the 
latter  had  died;  a  slave  was  buried  in  her  stead,  in  order 
that  the  son  might  be  disembarrassed  of  a  rival  claimant 
to  the  family  inheritance.  But  Malina  was  alive,  and,  in 
order  to  get  her  out  of  the  way,  she  was  sold  as  a  slave, 
and  taken  to  the  Tabascans,  where  she  lived  until  Cortes 
came.  The  Tabascan  chief  then  presented  her,  together 
with  a  number  of  other  pretty  maidens,  to  the  invader; 
and  as  she  was  acquainted  both  with  the  Mayan  and  Az- 
tecan  dialect,  she  was  soon  employed  as  interpreter.  Such 
had  been  her  history ;  when  she  now  reappeared  in  her  an- 
cestral home,  where  her  mother  and  stepfather,  and  their 
son,  were  still  living,  they  became  greatly  alarmed  lest  she 
should  use  her  power  as  a  favorite  of  the  conquerors  to  re- 


THE    SEQUEL    OF    CORTES  313 

venge  herself  for  their  former  ill  treatment  of  her.  But 
revenge  had  no  habitation  in  the  sad  and  gentle  heart  of 
Malina ;  she  relieved  the  apprehensions  of  her  relatives,  and 
settling  down  among  them,  passed  the  rest  of  her  life,  which 
was  very  short,  in  silent  retirement.  She  died  before  Cortes 
met  with  the  reverses  and  disgrace  which  attended  the  close 
of  his  career.  He  found  it  necessary  to  make  several  voy- 
ages to  Spain,  in  the  attempt  to  secure  his  position  with  the 
court;  on  his  first  appearance  he  was  greeted  as  became  a 
conqueror  and  a  hero,  and  the  title  of  Marquess  of  the  Valley 
of  Oaxaca  was  conferred  upon  him.  So  brilliant  a  figure, 
invested  with  the  glory  of  romance,  and  the  tender  interest 
of  widowerhood,  could  not  fail  to  be  affecting  to  the  fair 
sex,  and  when  Cortes  went  back  to  Mexico,  he  took  with 
him  another  wife — the  daughter  of  Count  Aguilar,  brother 
of  the  Duke  of  Bejar,  Dona  Juana  de  Zufiiga.  But  the 
alliance  was  of  ill  omen.  The  Conquest  of  Mexico  was  no 
longer  the  greatest  achievement  of  Spain  in  America.  Peru 
had  been  discovered,  and  the  reports  of  the  wealth  and  splen- 
dor of  that  country  made  the  riches  of  Tenochtitlan  seem 
trifling,  and  with  them  dwindled  the  repute  of  their  finde'r. 
He  again  sought  the  presence  of  Charles  V.,  but  that  able 
sovereign  gave  him  a  chilly  reception ;  and  when  a  Spanish 
court  is  chilly,  it  is  one  of  the  unhealthiest  places  in  the 
world.  Cortes  retired  with  his  hair  on  end,  went  to  Seville, 
and  died  there  a  few  years  later,  in  dishonor  and  obscurity. 
He  had  risen  to  the  highest  honors  possible  to  a  Spanish 
subject,  and  by  his  great  qualities  he  had  deserved  them; 
but  he  was  a  murderer  and  a  dastard  in  his  relations  with 
women,  and  for  this  and  other  cruel  crimes  he  deserved  more 
than  the  trifling  punishment  inflicted  on  him.  In  fact,  his 
only  sin,  so  far  as  Charles  was  concerned,  was  that  he  had 
become  inconvenient;  much  darker  criminals  than  he,  with- 
out a  tithe  of  his  parts,  were  kept  in  honorable  positions 
without  any  reference  to  their  vileness.  Be  that  as  it  may, 
the  sun  of  Cortes  set  in  gloom;  and  since  he  had  valued 
place  and  power  more  than  anything  else  in  this  world, 


314  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

he  perhaps  suffered  quite  as  much  as  if  his  head  had  been 
taken  off. 

Charles  now  decided  to  put  the  new  country  under  the 
control  of  a  body  of  men  representative  of  him,  whose  au- 
thority should  be  absolute  under  his ;  they  were  to  be  given 
each  his  province ;  and  their  mutual  jealousies  would  serve 
to  keep  them  all  in  due  subordination.    It  was  the  same  plan 
of  an  Audiencia  that  was  observed  in  Peru.     The  members 
of  the  first  board  reached  Mexico  in  1528;  their  chief  was 
Nuno  de  Guzman,  a  finished  tyrant  and  a  man  of  blood,  and 
therefore  well  in  harmony  with  the  fashion  of  the  time.    His 
instructions  had  been  to  treat  the  Indians  with  kindness; 
but  he  interpreted  the  order  in  a  Pickwickian  sense,  and  not 
only  continued  the  slave  business,  but  murdered  right  aud 
left  with  great  industry.     His  object,  and  that  of  his  col- 
leagues, was  to  enrich  themselves;   they  came  into  opposi- 
tion with  the  ecclesiastical  powers  in  New  Spain,  and  were 
excommunicated  by  the  Spanish  bishop ;  in  return  for  which 
they  disturbed  the  proceedings  of  the  priests.    Guzman  went 
to  the  maritime  province  of  Michoacan,  on  the  Pacific  coast, 
ahd  applied  himself  to  despoiling  the  chief  of  that  hitherto 
untroubled  region,  Calzonzi,  sovereign  of  the  Tarascans,  of 
his  wealth.     But  Calzonzi  was  either  not  so  rich  as  Guzman 
thought  he  ought  to  be,  or  else  he  concealed  the  fact  from 
his  inquisitor;  and  by  way  of  reproof  for  his  greed,  Guzman 
burned  him  alive.     Guzman  then  proceeded  on  his  journey, 
and  laid  waste  the  country  round  Jalisco,  founding  in  that 
place  the  city  of  Espiritu  Santo,  now  known  as  Guadalajara. 
Thus  he  went  on,  sowing  misery  wherever  he  came,  until  at 
length  the  arrival  of  a  second  Audiencia  put  an  end  to  his 
career.     The  new  Audiencia  published  a  decree  reaffirming 
the  slave  law ;  whoever  should  presume  to  enslave  an  Indian 
should  die.     It  also  founded  a  college  for  the  education  of 
the  Indians,  providing  that  they  should  be  instructed  in  the 
Latin  language ;  though  why  Latin-speaking  Indians  should 
be  happier  or  better  than  those  unversed  in  that  tongue  does 
not  appear.     But  there  can  be  no  question  that  it  is  more 


THE    SEQUEL   OF   CORTES  315 

praiseworthy  to  teach  an  Indian  Latin  than  to  burn  him 
alive  for  not  having  enough  money  to  be  robbed  of.  The 
priests  also  exercised  an  influence  over  the  natives  which, 
upon  the  whole,  was  beneficial,  and  matters  began  to  go 
more  comfortably.  But  the  members  of  the  Audiencia  were 
not  always  able  to  agree  among  themselves,  and  as^ill  their 
disputes  were  brought  before  the  king  for  adjustment,  he 
finally  made  up  his  mind  to  put  an  end  to  them  by  appoint- 
ing a  viceroy  whose  authority  should  be  supreme.  The  func- 
tions of  the  Audiencia  (which  was  continued)  were  hereafter 
to  be  confined  to  dispensing  justice  at  the  civil  courts  of  the 
realm.  The  plan  turned  out  to  be  the  most  successful  yet 
devised,  though  quarrels  between  the  viceroy  and  the  Audi- 
encia still  occasionally  occurred.  Indeed  the  territory  of 
New  Spain  was  of  such  vast  extent  that  it  was  hardly  pos- 
sible for  one  man  to  control  it  efficiently;  it  embraced  not 
only  what  is  now  known  as  Mexico,  but  in  addition  the  coun- 
tries of  Texas,  Alta  California,  New  Mexico  and  Louisiana. 
But  a  small  part  of  this  was  actually  colonized  by  Spaniards, 
and  little  was  known  of  its  character  and  boundaries. 

The  first  viceroy  selected  for  this  great  office  was  Antonio 
de  Mendoza,  who  was  a  representative  of  one  of  the  most 
honorable  and  ancient  families  of  Spain;  their  historical 
generations  numbered  no  less  than  twenty-three,  and  they 
claimed  to  be  descendants  of  the  Cid,  the  legendary  Spanish 
hero  in  the  wars  with  the  Moors.  The  Conde  de  Tendilla — 
such  was  his  title — seems  to  have  been  almost  a  paragon 
among  men  of  that  epoch;  his  object  in  undertaking  the 
government  was  not  simply  to  fill  his  pockets  by  draining 
the  resources  of  the  country  and  slaughtering  its  inhabitants ; 
but,  first,  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  natives,  and,  sec- 
ondly, to  advance  the  welfare  of  the  colonists.  That  a  man 
of  this  stamp  existed  in  that  age,  and  of  that  country,  is  a 
relief  and  somewhat  of  a  surprise;  and  still  more  singular  is 
it  that  he  should  have  been  chosen  for  so  conspicuous  a  post. 
But  Charles  V.,  who  was  in  some  respects  one  of  the  greatest 
Spanish  sovereigns,  was  becoming  weary  of  the  cares  of  office, 


316  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

and  may  have  already  bethought  himself  to  retire,  leaving  a 
worthy  man  to  represent  him  in  his  new  dominions.  Charles 
was  able  to  understand  that  the  very  life  of  Spain  might 
come  to  depend  upon  the  integrity  of  her  American  empire, 
and  that  he  could  do  no  better  service  to  his  country  than 
to  give»that  empire  every  possible  opportunity  to  develop. 
Mendoza  ruled  New  Spain  for  about  fifteen  years,  after 
which  he  was  promoted  to  be  viceroy  of  Peru,  where  his 
chief  distinction  was  the  creation  of  the  code  of  laws  called 
Libro  de  Tasas,  a  mingling  of  the  old  laws  of  the  Incas  and 
of  Spanish  common  law,  together  with  some  special  laws 
devised  by  the  resident  councils.  But  in  New  Spain,  Men- 
doza gave  his  chief  attention  to  the  stimulation  of  industries. 
He  could  not  teach  the  natives  much  about  farming ;  but  he 
encouraged  them  in  the  practice  of  what  they  knew;  and 
he  introduced  a  fine  breed  of  sheep*  into  the  country,  so  that 
wool  might  become  the  clothing  of  the  people,  instead  of  the 
cotton  garments  which  had  hitherto  been  their  only  wear. 
The  cultivation  of  the  silkworm  was  also  favored,  and  he 
made  great  advances  in  the  working  of  mines,  and  the  dis- 
covery and  opening  of  new  ones.  He  co-operated  with  the 
priests,  and  they  became  more  useful  and  active  under  his 
reign  than  they  had  been  before,  and  their  missions  were 
spread  into  remote  parts  of  the  domain.  So  far  as  one  can 
judge,  these  Central  American  Indians  seem  to  have  accepted 
the  new  religion  with  little  difficulty;  they  perhaps  found 
it  less  exacting  in  its  demands  than  that  which  it  replaced. 
Nothing  in  the  shape  of  a  religious  war  is  upon  the  records 
of  Spanish  rule  in  this  region.  Moreover,  the  Catholic  faith 
is  calculated  to  attract  people  such  as  these,  by  the  beauty 
and  charm  of  its  ceremonies  and  services.  Great  and  splendid 
churches  were  built,  some  of  which  still  remain.  The  city 
of  Guadalajara,  already  mentioned,  owes  to  Mendoza  its 
importance  and  prosperity ;  it  is  to-day  the  second  Mexican 
city  in  size,  though  only  of  late  has  it  been  reached  by  the 
railway.  It  took  the  place  of  the  original  town  of  Espiritu 
Santo,  built  by  Guzman,  and  sprinkled  with  the  blood  of  the 


THE    SEQUEL    OF    CORTES  317 

natives  whom  he  had  tortured  and  slain.  It  is  a  sort  of 
museum  of  old  Spanish  and  Aztecan  curiosities  and  customs, 
and  its  citizens  have  an  old-world  flavor  about  them,  most 
agreeable  to  the  sympathetic  tourist.  Valladolid  is  another 
city  which  calls  Mendoza  its  father.  This  was  founded  in 
the  province  of  Michoacan,  which  borders  on  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  It  contains  some  of  the  most  beautiful  scenery  of 
Central  America.  It  was  at  this  period  occupied  by  the 
Tarascan  tribe,  a  race  of  mountaineers,  with  the  independent 
and  courageous  proclivities  commonly  found  in  natives  of 
highlands.  Mendoza,  instead  of  massacring  them,  bethought 
himself  to  civilize  them  with  a  city;  the  site  for  which  he 
chose  in  the  midst  of  the  country.  The  charter  for  the  build- 
ing of  this  town  is  still  extant,  issued  by  Queen  Juana  in 
1537.  The  inhabitants  of  the  chief  pueblos  in  the  neighbor- 
hood were  summoned  to  attend  the  ceremonies,  which  took 
place  in  the  semi-tropical  forest,  and  must  have  made  a  de- 
lightful picture,  full  of  every  variety  of  color  and  form;  the 
Indians  with  their  wild  manners  and  vivid  decorations,  and 
the  Spaniards  with  their  glittering  armor  and  priestly  vest- 
ments. In  the  midst  stood  the  royal  commissioners,  and 
confronting  them  were  the  chiefs  of  the  tribes.  The  royal 
parchment  was  produced  and  read  aloud  to  the  multitude. 
"Inasmuch  as  I  am  informed,"  writes  Queen  Juana,  "that 
in  these  lands  you  have  found  a  most  beautiful  site  toward 
the  part  of  the  Chichimecas  in  the  province  of  Michoacan : 
in  which,  as  it  is  a  place  both  attractive  and  convenient,  you 
desire  to  establish  and  found  a  city  to  accommodate  sixty  or 
more  Spanish  families  and  nine  officers  of  religion,  for  this 
purpose  acknowledging  the  service  of  God  and  of  the  Crown 
of  Spain :  therefore  we  hereby  give  and  concede  faculty  and 
license  to  the  viceroy,  Don  Antonio  de  Mendoza,  to  establish 
and  people  the  said  city."  The  royal  lady  was  not  skilful 
in  literary  expression,  but  the  charter  pleased  the  Indians 
just  as  well  as  if  it  had  been  composed  by  the  greatest  mas: 
ter  of  style,  and  was  received  by  the  Spaniards  with  the 
reverence  which  they  paid  to  all  royal  commands.  The 


318  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

parchment  was  then  kissed  by  the  chiefs,  in  testimony  of 
their  acquiescence  with  its  authority;  and  a  mass  was  cele- 
brated upon  an  altar  which  had  been  erected  under  a  canopy 
of  green  boughs.  Festivities  then  began,  and  were  kept  up 
several  days;  after  which  the  work  of  laying  out  the  plan 
of  the  city  in  the  wilderness  was  commenced.  The  sixty 
Spanish  families,  more  or  less,  were  ready  to  select  the  lots 
on  which  their  dwellings  were  to  stand,  and  to  set  about  the 
work  of  clearing  and  building.  The  large  emigration  of 
Spanish  families  to  New  Spain  is  a  somewhat  noteworthy 
fact ;  inasmuch  as  there  was  in  their  case  none  of  that  desire 
for  civil  and  religious  liberty  that  moved  our  own  Pilgrim 
fathers  to  seek  the  wilderness.  On  the  contrary,  life  in 
New  Spain  was  if  anything  more  rigorously  controlled  than 
in  Spain  itself.  The  thirst  for  gold  would  of  course  account 
for  the  emigration  of  adventurers,  and  persons  whose  room, 
in  any  part  of  the  world,  is  more  desirable  to  the  inhabitants 
»  f  that  part  than  their  company.  But  families  do  not  go 
treasure-hunting;  they  emigrate  to  settle  down  and  live 
quietly,  in  the  pursuit  of  whatever  normal  industry  may 
offer  itself.  "We  can  only  conclude  that  existence  in  old 
Spain,  except  for  such  as  were  court  favorites,  must  have 
been  very  dry  and  tedious,  if  nothing  worse;  from  which 
many  were  glad  to  take  great  risks  to  escape.  There  was 
no  intellectual  life  there,  and  everywhere  there  was  a  dead 
monotony.  The  very  strangeness  of  the  wilderness  was  its 
charm  for  people  thus  oppressed ;  there  they  could  see  new 
things,  undergo  novel  experiences,  and  each  fresh  day  would 
be  distinguishable  from  its  predecessors.  At  all  events,  the 
number  who  left  Spain,  never  to  return,  was  very  large,  and 
many  of  them  must  have  been  persons  of  a  superior  stamp, 
precisely  because  commonplace  and  worthless  people  would 
be  the  least  likely  to  undertake  such  an  enterprise.  Had 
Spain  treated  these  first  emigrants  and  their  descendants 
with  consideration,  instead  of  slighting  them  and  oppressing 
them  upon  all  occasions,  New  Spain  would  in  time  have 
given  an  illustration  of  the  best  results  which  the  Spanish 


THE    SEQUEL    OF    CORTES  319 

nature  is  capable  of  attaining.  But  three  centuries  of  injus- 
tice and  enforced  ignorance  will  degrade  and  brutify  the 
most  promising  human  material. 

Valladolid  was  the  name  given  to  the  new  city — that  be- 
ing also  the  name  of  Mendoza's  birthplace  in  Spain.  It  bore 
that  nane  for  about  three  hundred  years,  after  which  it  was 
changed  for  that  of  Morelia,  in  compliment  to  the  warrior 
and  statesman  Morelos  who  was  distinguished  in  the  revolu- 
tion. It  was  a  flourishing  settlement  from  the  first,  both  its 
native  and  its  Spanish  population  being  of  a  superior  char- 
acter. The  site  for  the  great  church  was  first  fixed  in  the 
pueblo  of  Tzintzuntzan,  where  the  famous  bishop  Quiroga, 
originally  a  lawyer,  had  dwelt  for  some  years  among  the 
people,  and  caused  them  to  forget  the  cruelties  of  Guzman. 
The  place  was  afterward  changed  to  Valladolid;  but  there 
is  a  small  church  in  the  village  of  Patzcuaro,  where  Tzint- 
zuntzan formerly  stood,  which  contains  a  large  and  valuable 
picture  of  the  Entombment,  said  to  have  been  painted  by 
Titian.  The  proper  place  for  such  a  work  of  art  would  of 
course  be  the  great  church  in  Valladolid ;  but  the  villagers 
will  not  permit  it  to  be  removed  thither.  The  latter  edifice 
was  begun  at  Patzcuaro,  on  a  magnificent  scale;  but  the 
ground  on  which  it  was  to  be  built  was  found  to  be  insecure, 
owing  to  its  proximity  to  a  lake;  the  work  was  stopped,  and 
ultimately  it  was  begun  anew  upon  the  present  site  in  Valla- 
doli'.l.  It  was  nearly  two  hundred  years  in  building,  and 
is  considered  a  finer  work  of  architecture  than  the  church 
in  Mexico. 

In  the  year  1536,  Mendoza  added  to  his  benefactions  by 
causing  to  be  printed  the  first  Mexican  book,  on  a  press  im- 
ported by  himself,  and  operated  by  Juan  Pablos.  He  issued 
minted  coins  in  the  same  year,  of  silver  and  copper.  There 
were  no  noticeable  events  during  the  rest  of  his  administra- 
tion, and  when  he  departed  to  assume  the  reins  of  govern- 
ment in  Peru,  he  had  the  distinction  of  not  being  followed 
by  the  curses  of  his  people.  He  died  in  Lima  in  1552.  It 
should  not  be  forgotten  that  he  was  the  discoverer  of  what 


320  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

is  known  as  the  Mendoza  Codex,  a  famous  Aztec  manuscript 
which  Mendoza  sent  as  a  present  to  Charles  V.  It  never 
reached  him,  however,  being  captured  on  the  way  by  a 
French  cruiser,  and  finally  turned  up,  after  many  years  and 
vicissitudes,  in  the  Bodleian  Library.  The  manuscript  com 
prises  a  history  of  the  Aztecs,  with  notes  regarding  their 
domestic  and  civil  economy. — So  much  for  the  first  viceroy 
of  New  Spain. 

The  co-operation  of  good  priests  with  the  civil  govern- 
ment was  unquestionably  of  great  service  in  bringing  New 
Spain  into  peaceful  acquiescence  with  the  Spanish  regime. 
All  Indians  are  of  an  imaginative  tendency,  and  prone  to 
superstition ;  and  the  miracles  of  the  Catholic  saints  not  only 
found  ready  credence  with  them,  but  they  engrafted  them 
upon  fancies  of  their  own,  until  a  very  remarkable  combina- 
tion was  the  result,  like  nothing  else  in  religious  history. 
The  early  Spanish  monks  themselves,  who  spent  their  lives 
in  working  for  the  natives,  have  undergone  a  sort  of  unoffi- 
cial canonization,  and  tales  are  told  of  them  which  take  their 
place  along  with  the  accepted  marvels  and  mysteries  of 
church  history.  The  large  town  of  Puebla  de  los  Angeles, 
south  of  Mexico  City,  is  especially  a  scene  of  sacred  events. 
The  tradition  goes,  that  before  the  Spanish  invasion,  the 
inhabitants  of  this  region  were  accustomed  to  see  visions 
and  dream  dreams  of  a  religious  character ;  the  subsequent 
interpretation  of  which  seemed  to  indicate  that  Puebla  was 
destined  to  become  the  headquarters  of  Heaven  on  earth ;  vast 
hosts  of  heavenly  beings  were  seen,  by  these  Indian  clair- 
voyants, marshalled  above  the  site  of  the  town  (which  was 
close  to  the  pyramid  of  Cholula,  of  which  we  have  already 
heard  something  not  markedly  angelic).  But  the  place 
was  on  the  great  highroad  to  Mexico  City,  and  it  was  expe- 
dient that  there  should  be  established  a  halting-place  some- 
where thereabout,  in  which  travellers  could  break  the  long 
journey  between  the  capital  and  the  coast.  This  conviction 
fastened  itself  in  the  mind  of  the  holy  Fray  Julian  Garces, 
who  was  the  first  Tlaxcallan  bishop  commissioned  from 


THE    SEQUEL   OF    CORTES  321 

Spain ,  but  the  good  man  could  not  decide  which  one  of  sev- 
eral possible  sites  would  be  most  desirable  for  his  proposed 
town.  There  is  a  full  account  of  what  followed,  written  by 
a  local  and  contemporary  chronicler,  which  may  therefore 
be  accepted  with  the  confidence  always  attaching  to  such 
documentary  evidence.  Fray  Julian,  it  seems,  falling  asleep 
upon  a  time,  or  lapsing  into  a  more  profound  meditative 
state  than  usual,  beheld  a  vision,  which  was  not  all  a  vision, 
inasmuch  as  subsequent  events  showed  that  it  represented 
a  concrete  reality.  It  seemed  to  the  Fray  that  he  stood  on 
the  confines  of  a  delightful  and  verdant  plain,  stretching 
away  toward  the  west  until  it  merged  in  the  vast  foothills 
of  a  great  volcanic  range  rising  cloudlike  against  the  sky  in 
that  direction*.  Two  rivers  wound  their  way  through  the 
green  fields  and  forests;  and  on  all  sides  there  bubbled  forth 
springs  of  fresh  water,  making  a  blessed  fertility  and  beauty 
everywhere.  The  uniformity  of  the  plain  was  broken  by  a 
couple  of  small  hills,  crowned  with  great  trees,  and  fragrant 
with  the  breath  of  innumerable  rainbow-hued  flowers.  Long 
did  the  good  bishop  gaze  upon  this  dream-landscape,  till 
every  feature  of  it  had  become  impressed  upon  his  memory; 
and  never  had  he  beheld  a  spot  which  so  captivated  his  im- 
agination, and  won  his  love.  But  presently  he  became  aware 
that  he  was  not  alone  in  the  place ;  for  there  appeared  two 
shining  ones  over  yonder;  he  had  at  first  taken  them  for 
two  bright  clouds  floating  in  the  azure  of  the  sky ;  but  they 
had  softly  descended  toward  the  earth,  and  now  revealed 
themselves  as  angels,  clad  in  lustrous  white  garments,  with 
far-extending,  snowy  pinions,  and  faces  more  glorious  than 
could  be  described.  They  alighted  upon  the  little  hills;  and 
the  bishop  saw  that  they  held  lines  and  rods  in  their  hands, 
such  as  are  used  for  the  laying-out  of  the  metes  and  bounds 
of  cities ;  and  he  saw  these  divine  surveyors  set  to  work,  and 
mark  out  distances,  and  set  monuments,  as  if  to  determine 
the  streets  and  buildings  of  a  city.  After  having  done  these 
things,  the  angels  took  flight,  or  ascended  heavenward,  and 
were  lost  in  the  empyrean.  The  bishop  awoke,  but  with  his 


322  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

wits  about  him ;  the  plain  with  its  hills  and  other  features 
still  lay  clear  and  distinct  in  his  memory;  and  as  for  the 
angels,  he  comprehended  that  they  had  been  sent  to  apprise 
him  that  in  this  spot,  and  not  elsewhere,  should  be  built  the 
Puebla  de  los  Angeles.  The  next  thing  to  do  was  obviously 
to  find  the  real  plain  whose  spiritual  counterpart  he  had 
seen ;  and  as  will  readily  be  anticipated,  the  bishop  met  with 
little  difficulty  in  doing  this;  he  had  but  to  ride  the  road 
between  Mexico  and  Vera  Cruz  until  the  very  scene  rose 
before  his  delighted  eyes.  There  was  the  town  built,  with 
the  consent  of  the  Audiencia;  and  chiefly  by  the  labor  of 
the  Franciscan  friars,  whom,  however,  the  natives  gladly 
assisted,  asking  no  recompense,  but  singing  cheerful  songs 
at  their  work ;  thereby  demonstrating  to  such*  as  had  minds 
to  learn  that  the  best  way  to  make  an  Indian  useful  is  not  to 
torture  him,  whip  him,  or  even  murder  him,  but  to  leave 
him  to  the  inspiration  of  his  natural  friendly  instincts,  and 
he  will  do  better  work  for  nothing  than  whips  could  make 
him  do. 

A  Franciscan,  also,  was  the  first  archbishop  of  Mexico 
(though  he  died  a  few  days  before  the  bull  raising  him  to 
that  dignity  was  received),  and  the  title  of  Protector  of  the 
Indians  which  he  bore,  he  did  nothing  to  disgrace;  though, 
to  be  sure,  his  zeal  led  him  to  take  the  step,  regretted  by 
historians  and  antiquaries,  of  collecting  and  burning  every 
copy  of  an  Aztec  book  or  manuscript  which  he  or  any  of  his 
numerous  emissaries  could  lay  their  hands  on.  Into  the  fire 
they  went,  all  those  priceless  records,  by  means  of  which, 
had  Juan  de  Zumarraga  been  a  little  less  earnest  or  a  little 
more  liberal,  we  might  ere  this  have  discovered  more  about 
the  true  nature  and  origin  of  the  Aztecs,  Mayas,  and  Toltecs 
than  we  are  ever  likely  to  know  as  it  is.  The  leaves  of 
maguey  fibre,  with  their  quaint,  painted  characters,  burned 
finely,  and  the  smoke  of  them  rose  in  the  air,  while  the  priest 
looked  on  with  an  expression  of  approval  on  his  honest 
countenance,  deeming  that  with  every  new  bundle  added 
to  the  pile,  the  benighted  heathen  were  brought  so  much 


THE   SEQUEL   OF   CORTES  323 

nearer  to  their  divine  home.  But  alas!  what  arcana  of  irre- 
placeable knowledge  crackled  and  spluttered  in  that  confla- 
gration! Perhaps  the  only  extant  annals  of  the  lost  ten 
tribes  of  Israel  perished  there;  and  what  would  have  been 
the  archbishop's  consternation,  had  such  an  idea  been  sug- 
gested to  him!  While  he  was  imagining  that  he  was  doing 
the  Lord's  work  in  annihilating  the  witchcrafts  of  the 
heathen,  he  was  throwing  away  a  unique  opportunity  of 
adding  an  invaluable  supplement  to  the  volume  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures!  But  if  such  were  the  fact,  the  worthy  arch- 
bishop lived  and  died  in  blessed  ignorance  of  it,  as  well  as  of 
many  other  things.  The  manuscripts  being  burned,  he  de- 
voted himself  to  enlarging  the  boundaries  of  his  missionary 
field  throughout  Central  America.  He  was  a  good  man; 
and  after  all,  it  is  comforting  to  think  that  he  burned  Indian 
books  instead  of  the  Indians  themselves. 

Another  saint  of  the  church  in  Mexico  was  Fray  Martin 
de  Valencia,  concerning  whose  adventures  much  has  been 
written  by  the  scribes  of  his  epoch.  His  life  was  spent  chiefly 
in  the  village  of  Amecameca,  not  far  from  the  capital,  where 
Cortes  had  halted  for  reorganization  and  refreshment  before 
marching  to  the  attack  upon  Montezuma's  stronghold.  In 
this  vicinity  Fray  Martin  had  a  quiet  hermitage,  which,  says 
the  chronicle,  was  "most  appropriate  to  prayer,  for  it  is  on 
the  side  of  a  little  mountain,  and  is  a  devout  hermitage. 
Close  to  the  house  is  a  cave  devoted  to  the  service  of  God, 
and  very  suitable  therefor.  In  this  he  was  used  at  certain 
times  to  give  himself  up  to  prayer;  at  other  times  he  would 
seek  a  neighboring  grove ;  and  among  the  trees  of  the  grove 
there  was  one,  remarkable  for  its  size  and  the  great  spread 
of  its  branches,  under  which  it  was  his  pleasure  to  pray  in 
the  early  morning;  and  it  is  said  that  no  sooner  had  he  knelt 
there  in  prayer,  than  the  tree  immediately  was  visited  by 
innumerable  birds,  whose  songs  created  so  delectable  a  har- 
mony that  the  holy  man  was  greatly  comforted  and  uplifted 
by  it,  and  redoubled  his  praises  and  blessings  of  the  Lord. 
And  no  sooner  did  he  depart  from  under  this  tree,  than  the 


824  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

birds  likewise  flew  away  from  it;  and  when  at  length  Fray 
Martin  died,  the  birds  never  returned  to  the  tree  any  more. 
These  things  were  observed  by  many  persons  who  were  wont 
to  repair  thither  to  hold  converse  with  the  man  of  God ;  not 
only  did  they  see  the  birds  come  and  then  fly  away  as  afore- 
said, but  they  noted  that  after  his  death  they  ceased  their 
coming.  It  is  moreover  related  by  a  monk  of  good  life  that 
on  a  time  there  appeared  to  Fray  Martin  Saint  Francisco 
and  Saint  Antonio,  in  the  hermitage  of  Amecameca;  who 
finally  departed  from  his  presence,  leaving  him  much  com- 
forted." Just  outside  Amecameca  is  a  hill,  rising  abruptly 
from  the  plain,  closely  covered  with  a  growth  of  ancient 
trees,  some  of  which  rival  those  of  Chapultepec  in  size,  and 
in  their  venerable  aspect.  The  name  of  this  hill  was  Monte 
Sacro;  and  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  even  before 
the  arrival  of  the  Spanish  priests,  it  was  sacred  to  the  deities 
of  the  Aztecs;  and  that  the  Spaniards  adopted  it  to  carry 
on  the  traditions  belonging  to  its  history.  Be  this  however 
as  it  may,  certain  is  it  that  it  was  one  of  the  favorite  retreats 
of  Fray  Martin,  for  he  retired  thither  at  times  to  an  oratory 
which  he  had  made  in  a  cave  on  the  bill,  there  to  give  him- 
self up  to  special  exercises  of  the  highest  contemplation  and 
rigorous  penance.  "For  a  long  time  he  continued  to  give 
instruction  to  the  Indians,  especially  to  the  young  boys,  for 
whom  he  manifested  a  singular  affection.  But  at  length, 
in  the  year  1533,  he  was  attacked  by  a  disease  of  the  lungs, 
which  occasioned  his  death.  This  event  was  accompanied 
by  very  remarkable  circumstances.  For  a  few  days  before 
he  was  taken  ill,  being  in  Amecameca,  he  manifested  to  his 
companion,  in  a  few  words,  that  now  was  approaching  the 
term  of  his  natural  life ;  and  though  the  companion  did  not 
at  first  credit  this,  yet  soon  he  was  convinced  thereof  by 
beholding  the  calenture,  or  delirium  of  the  tropics,  which 
overcame  the  servant  of  God.  As  his  illness  increased, 
he  was  forced  to  conduct  Fray  Martin  to  the  convent  of 
Tlalmanalco,  where  the  nature  of  the  illness  having  mani- 
fested itself,  the  holy  sacraments  were  administered  to  him. 


THE    SEQUEL    OF    CORTES  325 

It  was  now  resolved  to  take  him  to  the  infirmary  in  Mexico 
City ;  and  in  fact  he  was  borne  with  much  toil  on  the  shoul- 
ders of  Indians  to  the  shore  of  Ayotzinco,  two  leagues  from 
the  pueblo;  there  he  was  placed  in  a  canoe,  to  continue  the 
journey  by  water.  But  scarcely  had  he  been  placed  in  the 
canoe  than,  feeling  that  even  now  his  hour  was  come,  he 
begged  them  to  carry  him  back  to  land.  Yielding  to  his 
entreaties,  they  disembarked;  and  he,  although  already  in 
articulo  mortis,  put  himself  upon  his  knees,  and  calling 
upon  them  to  commend  his  soul  to  God,  his  spirit  was  united 
with  the  Lord;  when  his  body  fell  into  the  arms  of  his  com- 
panion, St.  Antonio  Ortiz;  thus  verifying  the  prophecy 
which  he  had  made  many  years  before,  while  in  Spain,  that 
he  was  to  die  in  St.  Antonio's  arms,  in  the  middle  of  a  field. 
As  soon  as  the  monks  became  assured  of  his  death,  they  took 
up  his  corpse,  and  with  innumerable  tears,  of  their  own  and 
of  the  Indians,  they  gave  it  sepulture  in  the  church,  in  bare 
ground,  without  any  precaution  to  preserve  relics  so  precious. 
But  after  some  time  the  custodian  of  the  church  was  apprised 
of  the  matter,  and  had  the  body  exhumed;  and  finding  it 
undecayed,  as  in  life,  put  it  in  a  coffin,  and  in  a  separate 
sepulchre,  and  caused  a  great  stone  to  be  placed  above  it, 
with  a  fitting  epitaph.  The  body  was  at  a  later  time  secretly 
moved  to  the  cave  of  Amecameca,  where  it  awaits  the  glori- 
ous day  of  resurrection  for  saints  and  of  confusion  for  here- 
tics. Many  miracles  are  told  of  the  saint;  but  his  name  will 
ever  be  glorious  in  our  country,  not  more  on  this  account 
than  because  of  his  great  virtues,  and  above  all  for  the  vast 
services  rendered  by  the  order  which  he  founded  to  the 
Mexicans,  during  more  than  three  hundred  years." 

The  chronicles  of  the  time  are  full  of  similar  tales,  hav- 
ing a  more  or  less  supernatural  quality;  and  there  were 
shrines  which  were  visited  by  pious  Indians  on  errands  sim- 
ilar to  those  which  cause  devout  Catholics  to  visit  Lourdes- 
and  Mohammedans  to  make  the  pilgrimage  to  Mecca. 

The  second  viceroy  of  New  Spain  was  Don  Luis  de  Ve- 
lasco,  who  came  to  the  capital  in  1550,  and  remained  until 


326  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

his  death  fourteen  years  later.  He  was  a  worthy  and  hu- 
mane administrator,  and  all  went  well  during  his  incum- 
bency. One  of  his  first  acts  was  to  liberate  from  slavery 
in  the  mines  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  Indians;  and 
when  it  was  objected  to  this  measure  that  the  mining  indus- 
try would  be  paralyzed  by  it,  he  made  the  memorable  reply 
that  the  freedom  of  the  Indians  was  a  matter  of  more  im- 
portance than  the  prosperity  of  all  the  mines  in  the  New 
World ;  and  that  the  revenues  due  to  the  Crown  could  not 
be  of  such  value  as  that,  in  order  to  obtain  them,  human 
and  divine  laws  should  be  violated.  He  also  established  a 
tribunal  of  the  Holy  Brotherhood,  the  function  of  which  was 
to  protect  travellers  upon  the  highways  of  the  country;  and 
he  founded  the  Royal  University  of  Mexico,  and  the  Royal 
Hospital,  which  was  designed  for  the  use  of  natives  exclu- 
sively. Native  agriculture  was  favored  by  him,  and  the 
Indians  were  assisted  to  develop  lands  hitherto  uncultivated ; 
and  he  promoted  the  discovery  of  new  mines.  The  building 
of  the  Cathedral  at  Puebla  was  energetically  advanced  under 
his  directions;  and  the  civil,  religious  and  political  founda- 
tions of  the  state  were  firmly  laid;  so  that  when  he  died,  in 
1564,  he  was  mourned  by  Spaniards  and  Indians  alike,  and 
the  title  of  Father  of  New  Spain  was  conferred  upon  him. 
After  his  decease,  a  period  of  two  years  was  allowed  to 
elapse  before  a  new  viceroy  was  appointed;  the  interval 
being  filled  by  the  Audiencia,  which  did  nothing  of  value, 
but  on  the  other  hand — so  well  was  the  machinery  of  gov- 
ernment ordered — contrived  to  effect  very  little  mischief. 
With  Velasco,  however,  the  great  New  Spanish  viceroys 
came  to  an  end,  and  were  followed  by  a  long  line  of  more  or 
less  inconsiderable  personages,  who  served  their  time,  and 
passed  on  to  Peru,  finally  either  dying  where  they  were,  or 
retiring  to  Spain  to  digest  their  gains.  The  Mexican  popula- 
tion, native  and  foreign,  developed  no  marked  traits;  they 
went  on  their  way  with  little  visible  demonstration  either  of 
content  or  turbulence.  The  Church,  while  it  imposed  upon 
them  its  will  in  matters  ecclesiastical,  avoided  giving  them 


THE   SEQUEL   OF   CORTES  327 

instruction  in  any  branches  of  worldly  or  political  learning;  it 
was  believed  that  ignorance  was  the  happiest  and  safest  state 
for  a  people.  The  Indians  appeared  resigned  to  this  state 
of  things;  the  new  religion  suited  them  quite  as  well  as  had 
that  which  it  supplanted;  and  for  other  studies  they  had  no 
proclivity.  The  Spanish  Americans  were  convinced  of  the 
uselessness  of  contending  against  the  power  of  the  Crown, 
and  sank  gradually  into  a  state  of  lethargy,  from  which  they 
were  aroused  only  by  the  universal  revolt  which  marked  the 
beginning  of  the  present  century. 

The  event  which  arrested  the  growth  of  the  country  was 
the  abdication  of  Charles  V.  in  1556.  This  sovereign,  in  the 
October  of  the  previous  year,  had  ceded  to  his  son,  Philip  II., 
the  sovereignty  of  the  dependency  of  Flanders;  and  he  fol- 
lowed up  this  step  by  resigning  his  kingdom  of  Castile  and 
Aragon,  and  retiring  to  end  his  days  in  the  convent  of  Yuste. 
This  monarch  was  born  in  Flanders  in  1500,  the  son  of  Philip 
of  Burgundy  by  a  daughter  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella ;  and 
he  had  been  crowned  emperor  in  1519.  After  a  reign  of  va- 
rious vicissitudes  he  had  concluded  the  Peace  of  Augsburg 
with  the  Protestants  in  1555;  this  was  his  last  notable  act 
as  emperor.  He  was  a  man  of  exceptional  ability,  and  of 
many  good  qualities;  but  he  was  weary  after  wellnigh  forty 
years  of  power,  and  was  glad  to  shift  the  burden  to  younger 
shoulders.  His  death  occurred  two  years  after  his  abdica- 
tion. Philip  was  also  a  man  of  ability  and  energy;  but  he 
had  not  the  same  personal  interest  in  the  affairs  of  his 
American  empire  that  his  father  had  possessed.  His  em- 
pire extended  to  all  parts  of  the  world;  he  was  king  of 
Naples  and  Sicily,  Duke  of  Milan,  master  of  the  Nether- 
lands, owner  of  part  of  Africa,  and  of  the  Philippines,  as 
well  as  monarch  of  Castile,  Aragon  and  Granada.  These 
possessions  constituted  a  vast  responsibility,  without  taking 
into  consideration  the  American  territories;  and  Philip  was 
content  to  derive  from  the  latter  the  revenues  which  had 
been  furnished  in  the  past,  without  concerning  himself  too 
closely  with  the  manner  in  which,  in  other  respects,  they 


328  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

were  administered.  Instead  of  selecting  men  of  tried  vir- 
tue and  ability,  personally  known  to  himself,  he  allowed  the 
choice  of  viceroys  to  fall  into  subordinate  hands ;  with  the 
inevitable  result  of  lowering  the  character  of  the  men  ap- 
pointed. And  the  riches  of  Peru  had  by  this  time  so  far  ex- 
ceeded those  of  New  Spain,  that  the  latter  took  a  subordinate 
rank  and  was  less  an  object  of  solicitude  than  the  former. 

In  1571  the  Inquisition  was  established  in  the  New  World. 
For  more  than  forty  years  the  Church  had  been  endeavoring 
to  import  this  institution  from  its  Spanish  home  into  the  col- 
onies. "It  is  most  necessary,"  declared  the  Council,  "that 
the  Holy  Office  of  the  Inquisition  be  extended  to  this  land, 
on  account  of  the  commerce  with  strangers  here  carried  on, 
and  of  the  evil  customs  brought  by  them  among  us;  and  be- 
cause of  the  many  corsairs  abounding  on  the  coasts,  to  the 
injury  of  both  natives  and  Castilians,  who,  by  the  grace  of 
God,  should  be  kept  free  from  heresy."  Accordingly,  in 
1570,  Don  Pedro  Moya  de  Contreras  was  appointed  Inquis- 
itor-General, and  his  headquarters  were  fixed  in  the  city  of 
Mexico.  By  a  special  regulation,  Indians  were  uniformly 
exempted  from  its  jurisdiction,  which  was  applied  chiefly  to 
heretics  of  other  nations.  "Twenty-one  pestilent  Luther- 
ans" were  burned  in  1574  in  the  Quemadero,  a  place  within 
the  bounds  of  the  city,  and  now  included  in  the  Alameda. 
Thereafter  the  autos-da-fe  were  of  frequent  occurrence, 
though,  owing  mainly  to  the  lack  of  suitable  material,  in 
comparison  with  that  obtainable  in  the  Old  World,  the  num- 
bers of  those  murdered  in  this  manner  fell  below  the  Euro- 
pean records.  But  the  work  went  steadily  on  all  through 
the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  until,  early  in  the 
present  era,  the  Holy  Office  was  suppressed  throughout  both 
Spain  and  the  Spanish  dependencies;  and,  save  for  a  short 
revival,  was  finally  abolished.  It  still  exists,  indeed,  as  an 
office  in  Spain,  but  its  activities  are  directed  chiefly  against 
heretical  literature — or,  in  other  words,  against  the  education 
and  enlightenment  of  the  people. 

The  chief  aim  which  Philip  II.  set  before  himself  was  the 


THE    SEQUEL   OF   CORTES  329 

restoration  of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  in  the  Protestant 
countries  of  Europe,  and  the  establishment  throughout  his 
dominions  of  a  despotic  form  of  government.  The  conse- 
quence of  this  policy  was  the  revolt  of  the  Netherlands  in 
1566,  resulting  in  their  independence  in  1579.  He  annexed 
Portugal;  and  formed  the  league  against  the  Huguenots,  in 
spite  of  which  Henry  IV.  acceded  to  the  French  throne  in 
1594.  It  was  he  who  sent  the  Armada  against  England 
in  1588;  and  his  death  occurred  in  1598,  deservedly  wel- 
comed by  the  greater  part  of  civilized  mankind.  His  end 
marked  also  the  fall  of  Spain's  greatness,  never  to  be  re- 
vived. He  was  succeeded  by  a  weaker  man,  Philip  III. ; 
but  the  colonies  suffered  less  than  did  the  home  government 
by  the  consequent  political  profligacy.  The  Creoles  were  be- 
coming gradually  solidified  into  the  semblance  of  a  race  with 
traits  of  their  own,  and  the  Indians  were  peaceable  and  quiet. 
"Whatever  menaced  the  welfare  of  the  mother  country  was 
of  benefit  to  the  colonies. 

There  had  been  a  disastrous  eruption  of  the  great  moun- 
tain Popocatapetl  at  the  time  of  the  establishment  of  the 
Inquisition,  in  1571 ;  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  Mexico  was  overwhelmed  by  an  inundation,  simi- 
lar to  those  which  had  often  afflicted  the  Aztecs  in  the  past. 
The  precautions  which  had  been  taken  against  such  a  catas- 
trophe proved  quite  ineffectual ;  and  there  was  a  consultation 
as  to  what  had  better  be  done.  The  project  of  removing  the 
whole  city  to  the  mainland  was  canvassed ;  but  the  obstacles 
were  too  great.  There  was  a  chain  of  lakes  in  the  valley  of 
Mexico,  and  it  was  thought  that  by  diverting  the  waters 
of  the  highest  of  these  into  another  channel,  the  overflows 
might  be  prevented.  This  idea  was  put  into  execution ;  and 
in  1607,  fifteen  thousand  Indians  were  set  to  work  sinking 
shafts  at  intervals,  with  a  view  to  boring  a  tunnel,  which 
was  to  be  over  four  miles  in  length,  thirteen  feet  in  depth, 
and  eleven  feet  wide.  This  huge  work  was  completed  in  less 
than  a  year  amid  great  rejoicings;  but  the  tunnel  proved  too 
small;  and  during  a  number  of  years  various  attempts  were 


330  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

made  to  improve  it,  without  much  success.  In  1614  there 
occurred  another  inundation,  and  the  mouth  of  the  tunnel 
having  been  blocked  up,  the  whole  city  was  under  water, 
and  so  remained  for  five  years.  The  engineer  Martinez,  who 
had  been  put  in  prison  for  blocking  up  the  tunnel,  was  now 
released  in  order  to  open  it  again ;  he  did  this,  and  also  built 
a  great  dike,  which  ameliorated  matters  to  some  extent. 
Nothing,  however,  was  really  effective,  until,  in  1767,  the 
plan  of  operations  was  changed,  and  an  open  canal  was 
made  instead  of  the  closed  tunnel.  The  work  was  finished 
twelve  years  later;  and  the  result  has  been  that  the  lake 
of  Texcuco  is  now  little  more  than  a  large  marsh. 

Philip  III.  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Charles  II.,  who, 
dying  childless  in  1700,  prepared  the  way  for  the  wars  of 
the  Spanish  Succession.  The  struggle  was  between  France 
and  Spain,  and  lasted  from  1701  to  1714.  All  Europe  was 
concerned  in  it,  directly  or  indirectly,  and  many  fortunes 
depended  upon  the  issue;  but  the  victories  of  Marlborough 
were  decisive,  and  the  death  of  Joseph,  son  of  Leopold,  in 
1711,  placed  Charles  on  the  imperial  throne,  thus  removing 
the  chief  obstacle  to  the  recognition  of  Philip  of  Anjou. 
The  latter  was  accordingly  recognized  as  king  of  Spain 
under  the  title  of  Philip  V.  The  Bourbons  continued  on 
the  Spanish  throne  until  within  fifty  years  of  the  present 
time.  Mexico  took  no  part  in  the  war,  and  the  death  of 
Charles  II.  left  the  viceroys  of  New  Spain,  three  thousand 
miles  away,  undisturbed  in  their  place.  There  was  nothing 
noticeable  in  Mexican  affairs  except  the  rather  eccentric  char- 
acter of  the  viceroy  Revillagigedo,  who  acceded  in  1787.  He 
found  the  city  in  a  very  bad  and  neglected  condition,  and 
undertook  the  work  of  restoring  it  to  decency.  He  was  of 
an  eccentric  character,  but  just  in  his  decisions  and  distin- 
guished for  his  energy,  and  for  the  severity  with  which 
he  enforced  the  laws.  There  are  anecdotes  concerning  him, 
of  a  kind  similar  to  those  which  are  told  of  Haroun  Alrashid 
and  Peter  the  Great.  He  was  fond  of  walking  amid  the 
people  in  disguise,  and  finding  out  for  himself  the  manner 


THE   SEQUEL    OF   CORTES  331 

of  their  life,  and  their  private  thoughts.  Like  all  reformers, 
he  made  enemies,  and  their  attacks  finally  drove  him  from 
power,  and  he  returned  to  Spain  in  1794.  But  the  standard 
of  order  and  cleanliness  which  he  enforced  continued  to 
obtain  in  Mexico  long  after  his  departure. 

A  school  of  engraving  was  opened  by  royal  decree  in 
1779;  and  so  much  popular  interest  was  aroused  in  it,  that 
in  1783  the  viceroy  Galvez,  with  the  royal  approval,  licensed 
the  institution  of  an  academy,  called  Academia  de  las  Nobles 
Artes  de  San  Carlos  de  la  Nueva  Espana.  It  was  opened  in 
1785;  but  was  removed  later  to  another  building,  which  it 
still  occupies.  It  contains  a  fine  collection  of  casts,  many 
of  which  were  presented  to  it  by  Charles  III.,  and  for  many 
years  it  was  under  the  direct  protection  of  the  Spanish  gov- 
ernment, and  was  improved  by  the  ministrations  of  eminent 
artists  sent  out  by  Spain.  Humboldt  describes  the  scene 
during  his  visit,  with  the  spacious  halls  lighted  by  lamps, 
and  hundreds  of  youths  drawing  from  the  cast,  or  from  life; 
others  copying  designs  for  furniture  or  decoration ;  the  Cre- 
oles mingling  with  the  Indians,  the  rich  with  the  poor;  for 
access  to  the  privileges  of  the  Institute  was  free  to  all.  Dur- 
ing the  revolution,  however,  the  Academy  fell  into  neglect, 
and  it  was  not  until  the  advent  to  power  of  Juarez  that  it 
was  endowed  with  an  annual  allowance  of  thirty-five  thou- 
sand dollars,  which  has  sufficed  to  revive  its  character;  it 
was  renamed  the  National  School  of  Fine  Arts.  The  experi- 
ment is  an  interesting  one;  and  it  may  be  that  the  Indians 
are  destined  io  develop  a  genius  for  art  which  their  prehis- 
toric performances  partly  foreshadowed. 

It  was  in  1799  that  Humboldt  was  in  Central  America, 
and  his  descriptions  give  us  some  conception  of  the  aspect 
of  things  at  that  time.  He  saw  the  casting  of  the  bronze 
statue  of  Charles  IV. ;  and  admired  the  then  new  cathedral, 
with  its  stately  towers  overlooking  the  broad  plaza  in  front. 
The  Aztec  calendar  stone,  with  its  strange  carvings,  had 
been  discovered,  and  a  collection  of  the  Aztec  manuscripts 
which  had  escaped  the  zeal  of  the  old  Bishop  of  the  previous 
—  16 


332 

century  were  subjects  of  the  learned  German's  interested 
scrutiny.  Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  antiquarian  object, 
however,  was  the  statue  of  the  idol  Teoyamique,  which 
had  been  originally  exhumed  from  the  grave  to  which  the 
conquistador  had  consigned  it,  during  the  viceroyalty  of 
Revillagigedo,  who  wished  to  place  it  in  the  university;  but 
the  professors  objected  on  the  ground  that  it  would  disturb 
the  orthodoxy  of  the  Indian  students,  and  tempt  them  to  fall 
down  and  worship  the  deity  of  their  ancestors.  But  Hum- 
boldt  succeeded  in  inducing  the  authorities  to  permit  it  to 
be  dug  up  in  order  that  he  might  examine  it  and  make 
drawings  of  it.  Stranger  images  than  this  have  since  then 
been  discovered  in  other  parts  of  Central  America. 

Chapultepec  was  occupied  by  a  pleasure-house,  erected 
there  by  the  viceroy  Galvez,  giving  a  beautiful  view  over 
the  widespread  plain,  with  the  volcano  in  the  distance.  An 
unfailing  amusement  was  provided  by  the  markets,  which 
offer  many  lively  and  original  features.  The  booths  of  the 
Indians  are  always  ornamented  with  flowers,  which,  as  in 
the  days  of  Montezurna,  are  greatly  loved  by  the  Aztec  In- 
dians. Hedges  of  fresh  herbs,  a  yard  in  height,  surround 
the  fruit  stalls,  constructed  of  interwoven  twigs  and  leaves, 
with  little  bunches  of  flowers  inserted  at  frequent  intervals. 
The  fruits  are  brought  to  market  in  small  wooden  cages, 
ornamented  with  flowers.  In  the  early  dawn  of  the  market 
days,  the  canals  are  filled  with  the  canoes  of  the  Indians, 
loaded  high  with  produce  and  flowers.  Floating  gardens, 
as  in  Aztec  times,  still  beset  the  marshy  shores  of  the  lake, 
in  which  both  vegetables  and  flowers  are  cultivated.  In 
his  examination  of  the  mines  of  the  country,  Humboldt 
found  the  methods  of  working  them  unchanged  since  the  six- 
teenth century;  and  in  spite  of  the  emancipation  of  the  In- 
dians from  slavery,  they  were  still  kept  at  work  in  these 
underground  prisons,  carrying  the  ore  up  from  the  depths 
on  their  backs,  or  descending  the  thousands  of  steps  to  the 
bottom.  Not  only  able-bodied  men  were  employed,  in  this 
work,  but  old  persons  *of  seventy,  and  children  of  ten  years. 


THE    SEQUEL    OF    CORTES  333 

It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  the  Spaniards  had  solved  the 
old  problem  of  how  to  eat  one's  cake  and  have  it  too;  they 
could  not  only  free  their  slaves,  and  make  it  death  to  prac- 
tice slavery,  but  they  could  at  the  same  time  keep  thousands 
of  natives  toiling  in  the  mines,  apparently  for  the  pure  love 
of  the  thing. 

The  period  of  Mexican  decay  which  began  with  the  acces- 
sion of  Philip  II.  was  temporarily  suspended  under  Charles 
III.,  who  came  to  the  Spanish  throne  in  1759.  This  son  of 
Philip  V.  was  a  well-meaning  creature,  and  his  subordinates 
co-operated  with  him  in  making  matters  pleasant  for  Mexico, 
so  that  his  memory  is  still  held  in  veneration  there.  The 
Charles  who  followed  him  did  not  inherit  his  virtues;  and 
affairs  became  difficult  once  more.  The  French  Revolution 
broke  out  in  his  reign,  and  the  owners  of  colonial  empires 
became  uneasy,  to  say  the  least  of  it.  Charles  sent  an  Italian 
adventurer,  Branciforte,  to  assume  the  New  Spanish  vice- 
royalty;  he  was  a  man  of  base  qualities,  whose  advance- 
ment was  a  job,  engineered  by  the  queen's  favorite,  Godoi. 
He  did  his  best  to  enrich  himself,  in  the  traditional  Spanish 
style,  which  he  seems  to  have  caught  without  difficulty; 
among  other  devices,  he  collected  money  for  the  erection 
of  a  bronze  statue  of  the  king,  which  was  the  more  offensive 
to  the  reluctant  subscribers,  because  the  king  himself  was 
very  unpopular.  Napoleon  now  began  to  make  himself  the 
master  of  Europe,  and  a  quarrel  between  Charles  and  his  son 
Ferdinand  gave  him  a  pretext  for  intervening  in  Spanish 
affairs.  He  invaded  Spain  with  an  army  in  1808,  and  the 
king  fled  from  Madrid,  and  for  a  time  meditated  seeking  ref- 
uge in  Mexico,  which,  in  spite  of  its  wrongs,  still  remained 
faithful.  In  the  sequel,  however,  Charles  abdicated,  and 
Ferdinand  was  entitled  to  the  throne  as  Ferdinand  VII. ;  but 
Napoleon  had  other  views,  and  forced  him  to  renounce  the 
crown  in  favor  of  Joseph  Bonaparte,  Napoleon's  brother, 
who  had  no  liking  for  the  dignity,  and  did  not  long  retain 
it.  The  Spanish  people  wanted  Joseph  for  king  as  little  as 
he  wanted  to  reign  over  them,  and  in  1813  his  rule  came 


334  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

to  an  end.  Councils  were  created  to  govern  during  Ferdi- 
nand's involuntary  absence.  These  councils,  or  juntas,  were 
thenceforth  to  play  a  large  part  in  the  events  of  the  revolu- 
tion; they  somewhat  resembled  the  "Continental  Congress" 
of  our  own  Revolution. 

After  the  fall  of  Napoleon,,  the  Bourbon  dynasty  was 
re-established  in  Spain  and  in  France,  and  Ferdinand  VII. 
reappeared  in  Madrid.  But  during  his  exile,  the  Spaniards 
had  •  found  out  that  it  was  possible  to  live  otherwise  than 
under  a  despot,  and  the  powers  of  the  king  were  restricted. 
Branciforte,  meanwhile,  was  obliged  to  cease  his  money- 
making  industry,  and  to  fly  to  France,  announcing  himself 
an  adherent  of  Joseph  Bonaparte.  This  absurd  step  settled 
his  political  fate;  his  estates  were  confiscated  by  the  Mexi- 
cans and  handed  over  to  the  existing  authorities.  Don  Jose 
de  Iturrigaray  was  the  next  viceroy,  and  a  great  improve- 
ment upon  his  predecessor.  He  stimulated  commerce  by 
affording  it  a  measure  of  protection ;  built  the  great  Puente 
del  Rey,  or  National  Bridge,  and  repaired  and  improved  the 
great  highroad  between  the  capital  and  Vera  Cruz.  Home 
industries  were  also  advanced  under  his  rule,  and  he  organ- 
ized a  militia,  besides  greatly  strengthening  the  regular 
army.  This  latter  measure,  however,  aroused  apprehen- 
sions in  Spain  that  the  viceroy  had  designs  of  a  political 
character:  that  he  contemplated  leading  a  revolt  in  Mexico, 
and  seizing  the  crown  for  himself.  Considering  what  had 
already  occurred  in  South  America  before  this  time,  such 
suspicions  were  not  surprising.  Whether  or  not  they  were 
justified  is  another  question,  never  likely  to  be  determined; 
for  before  the  viceroy  could  prove  his  intentions,  either  for 
good  or  evil,  the  palace  was  besieged,  he  and  his  family 
captured,  and  shut  up  in  the  fortress  of  San  Juan  de  Ulloa ; 
from  which  he  only  emerged  to  be  carried  for  trial  to  Spain. 
We  need  not  follow  him  further ;  when  we  see  an  ox  led  into 
the  slaughter-house,  we  can  form  a  probable  idea  of  what  is 
about  to  happen. 

For  a  few  months  Marshal  Garibay  filled  the  place  of 


THE   SEQUEL   OF   CORTES  335 

viceroy;  but  the  central  Junta  of  Spain  soon  ordered  the 
Archbishop  of  Mexico  to  assume  the  reigns  of  government. 
This  act  marked  the  beginning  of  a  new  era ;  not  that  the 
Archbishop  introduced  anything  novel,  but  the  discovery 
that  a  government  could  be  overturned,  and  the  world  yet 
continue  to  revolve  upon  its  axis,  so  surprised  and  pleased  th? 
Mexicans  that  they  could  not  afterward  restrain  themselves 
from  repeating  the  experiment,  as  occasion  or  whim  might 
dictate.  They  were  catching  the  great  contagion  which, 
sweeping  over  Europe  and  North  America,  had  now  made  its 
way  downward  to  the  south;  the  contagion  of  human  free- 
dom. It  displayed  itself  in  many  singular  shapes,  some  of 
which  wore  the  guise  of  despotism  more  pitiless,  if  anything, 
than  that  which  had  been  overthrown ;  but  upon  the  whole 
the  change  was  wholesome;  and  when  its  final  stages  have 
been  reached,  something  beautiful  may  be  looked  for,  rising 
transfigured  from  the  debris  of  mere  disorder  and  revolt. 

Here  we  will  leave  Mexico  for  the  present,  and  betake 
ourselves  to  another  part  of  the  Spanish  American  domin- 
ions. 


336  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 


VII 

THE   WEST  INDIES 

THE  Papal  Meridian,  drawn  with  a  plentiful  lack  of 
geographical  knowledge,  but  binding  nevertheless 
upon  all  Catholic  countries,  gave  all  the  "West  Indian 
Islands  to  Spain;  and  the  right  of  first  discovery  confirmed 
the  gift.  Columbus,  as  we  have  seen,  fancied  that  he  had 
found  an  archipelago  off  the  East  Indian  coast,  and  con- 
formed his  nomenclature  to  that  hypothesis.  After  the 
truth  was  realized,  it  was  too  late  to  change  the  names; 
ail  that  could  be  done  was  to  prefix  the  qualifying  word 
"West."  As  the  West  Indies,  therefore,  this  remarkable 
group  of  islands  is  still  known,  though  they  are  distant 
half  the  circumference  of  the  terraqueous  globe  from  the 
point  where  Columbus  supposed  them  to  be. 

There  are  upward  of  two  thousand  of  these  islands,  all 
but  four  of  which  are  very  small,  and  the  majority  of  which 
are  mere  atoms  of  coral  or  rock  emerging  from  the  sea. 
They  have  been  geographically  divided  into  separate 
groups;  to  the  whole,  the  name  of  Antilles  has  been  ac- 
corded, because,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  it  was  believed 
that  there  was  a  large  island,  sometimes  called  Antilla, 
somewhere  between  Europe  and  the  east ;  occupying,  in  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  about  the  position  really  held  by  Australia 
m  the  Pacific.  Subdividing  this  comprehensive  group,  we 
have  the  Greater  Antilles,  including  Cuba,  Haiti  and  San 
Domingo,  Porto  (or  Puerto)  Rico,  and  Jamaica.  These  lie 
between  latitude  84°  and  66°,  approximately,  and  between 
the  twenty-third  and  seventeenth  parallels  of  north  latitude. 
East  of  Porto  Rico,  which  is  the  easternmost  of  the  Greater 
Antilles,  begins  the  archipelago  of  the  Lesser  Antilles,  which 
curves  round  toward  the  south  hi  a  graceful  crescent,  ending 


THE    WEST    INDIES  337 

with  the  comparatively  large  island  of  Trinidad,  a  few  miles 
off  the  north  coast  of  Venezuela.  There  is  another  distinct 
group  of  islands  called  the  Bahamas,  situated  north  of  Cuba 
and  Haiti,  and  extending  north  as  far  as  the  latitude  of 
Lake  Okeechobee  in  Florida.  Three  small  islands,  now  be- 
longing to  the  Dutch,  lie  a  little  east  of  the  mouth  of  the 
Gulf  of  Venezuela.  Barbadoes,  though  grouped  with  the 
Lesser  Antilles,  is  really  a  distinct  geographical  formation, 
the  depth  of  water  between  it  and  its  nearest  western 
neighbor,  St.  Vincent,  being  about  six  thousand  feet. 

Geologists  believe  that  Cuba  and  the  other  large  islands 
are  part  of  the  American  continent,  organically  connected 
with  the  main;  but  in  past  ages  a  subsidence  of  the  land 
caused  the  ocean  to  flow  between  and  sever  them  therefrom. 
The  present  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  the  Caribbean  Sea,  were 
then  vast  plains,  with  deep  lakes  or  inland  seas  here  and 
there ;  the  soundings  in  the  Caribbean  show  vast  depths  in 
places,  going  down  as  far  as  twenty-seven  thousand  feet 
in  one  spot,  a  hundred  miles  north  of  Porto  Rico,  and  often 
attaining  depths  of  twelve  thousand  and  fifteen  thousand 
feet.  The  water  within  the  Bahama  group,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  quite  shallow,  generally  less  than  one  hundred  feet, 
though  here  also  there  are  deep  crevasses  as  much  as  a  mile 
deep.  The  Bahamas  are  chiefly  of  coral  formation :  pillars 
of  coral  rock,  the  slow  growth  of  many  ages,  beginning  as 
irregular  columns,  but  spreading  out  mushroom- wise  as  they 
near  the  surface,  and  then  uniting  their  edges,  till  islands  of 
irregular  shape  and  of  various  sizes  are  formed.  Under- 
neath these  formations,  the  tides  of  ocean  flow,  causing  the 
levels  of  inland  ponds  or  lakes  to  vary.  The  crescent  of 
the  Lesser  Antilles  is  of  another  origin;  the  islands  may 
be  regarded  as  the  summits  of  a  chain  of  mountains.  The 
northern  section  of  this  group  is  often  referred  to  by  mari- 
ners as  the  Leeward  Islands,  while  to  the  southern  series 
the  corresponding  name  of  Windward  Islands  is  given; 
these  names  having  reference  to  the  direction  of  the  trade 
winds,  which  blow  in  the  easterly  or  westerly  direction  at 


338  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

different  times  of  the  year,  owing  to  the  atmospheric  suction 
caused  by  the  tropic  sun. 

Of  the  two  thousand  protuberances  of  one  kind  or  another 
which  constitute  the  Bahamas,  some  seven  hundred  may 
fairly  be  called  islands;  and  of  these  thirty-one  are  inhab- 
ited. Their  aggregate  area  is  reckoned  at  about  five  thou-. 
sand  four  hundred  square  miles,  with  a  total  population  of 
fifty  thousand  persons.  The  large  island  of  Cuba  contains 
forty-eight  hundred  square  miles,  and  its  population  has 
numbered  as  much  as  sixteen  hundred  thousand.  Jamaica 
is  of  more  than  four  thousand  square  miles'  area,  and  its 
population,  all  but  a  small  percentage  of  whom  are  negroes, 
is  about  seven  hundred  thousand.  Haiti  and  San  Domingo 
(the  island  is  politically  divided  into  these  two  parts)  has 
an  area  of  over  twenty-eight  hundred  square  miles,  and  a 
population  of  over  sixteen  hundred  thousand.  There  are 
probably  more  inhabitants  in  Haiti  than  in  Cuba  to-day, 
though  the  former  is  not  two-thirds  the  size  of  the  latter. 
Porto  Rico  is  the  smallest  of  the  Greater  Antilles,  with  an 
area  of  three  thousand  five  hundred  and  fifty  miles ;  but  it 
has  a  population  of  eight  hundred  and  six  thousand  persons. 
Of  the  Lesser  Antilles  we  may  say — without  going  into 
particulars — that  their  aggregate  area  is  a  little  under  five 
thousand  square  miles,  and  their  population  about  twelve 
hundred  thousand.  Thus  the  total  land  surface  of  the  West 
Indies  may  be  put  at  ninety-five  thousand  square  miles,  of 
which  eighty-five  thousand  belong  to  the  Greater  Antilles; 
and  the  total  population  is  five  million  seven  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand,  of  which  the  Greater  Antilles  contain  four 
and  a  half  million. 

The  heat  of  the  sun,  combined  with  the  peculiar  forma- 
tion of  the  archipelago,  produces  the  phenomenon  known  as 
the  Gulf  Stream,  which  flows  eastward  and  northward  with 
gradually  diminishing  velocity  out  of  the  strait  between  Cuba 
and  Florida.  Mr.  A.  K.  Fiske,  in  his  admirable  monograph 
on  "The  West  Indies,"  thus  accounts  for  it:  "The  great 
equatorial  current  is  produced  by  rapid  evaporation  under 


THE    WEST    INDIES  339 

the  tropic  sun,  which  draws  the  cooler  and  denser  water 
from  north  and  south  toward  the  equator.  The  great  ve- 
locity of  the  earth's  surface  in  its  rotation  toward  the  east, 
as  the  diameter  perpendicular  to  its  axis  increases,  draws 
these  two  currents  from  north  and  south  into  a  single  broad 
stream  tending  west  upon  the  central  belt  of  the  globe.  As 
this  strikes  upon  the  South  American  coast  it  is  deflected  to 
the  northwest  and  thrown  upon  the  barrier  of  the  Antilles. 
Far  the  greater  part  of  its  volume  is  again  deflected  north, 
to  be  spread  over  the  Atlantic;  but  vast  quantities  of  the 
water  make  their  way  among  the  huge  pillars  and  over 
the  vast  sills  of  the  Caribbean  barrier  and  rush  on,  to  be 
forced  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  by  the  swelling  mass  behind. 
As  the  movement  is  continuous,  the  invading  force  of  equa- 
torial water  is  turned  back  by  the  resisting  shores  of  the 
Gulf  and  by  the  volume  of  cooler  water  that  drains  down 
from  the  Mississippi  River,  and  is  driven  out  again  through 
the  Florida  Straits  to  form  the  Gulf  Stream.  .  .  .  Here  it 
is  thirty-seven  miles  wide  and  twelve  hundred  feet  deep, 
and  its  volume  is  two  thousand  times  as  great  as  that  of 
the  Mississippi  emptying  into  the  Gulf  the  drainage  of  a 
continent,  while  it  moves  with  a  more  rapid  flow  than  the 
greatest  rivers  of  the  earth." 

The  phenomenon  of  the  trade  winds  Mr.  Fiske  explains 
as  follows:  "The  heat  of  the  equatorial  zone  causes  the  air  to 
expand  and  rise,  and  this  produces  a  pressure  from  north  and 
south  which  draws  currents  along  the  surface  of  the  globe 
from  the  direction  of  the  poles.  The  rotation  of  the  earth 
toward  the  east,  increasing  in  surface  speed  with  increase 
of  diameter  in  its  latitude,  tends  to  draw  these  currents 
into  an 'equatorial  stream;  but  the  freedom  of  expansion  and 
movement  characteristic  of  air  causes  it  to  join  the  rising 
mass  where  the  currents  meet  in  the  equatorial  belt,  and 
to  flow  back  in  counter-currents  to  the  north  and  south.  In 
the  northern  hemisphere  the  surface  currents,  drawn  from 
the  direction  of  the  Arctic  zone  and  deflected  to  the  south- 
west by  the  revolution  of  the  earth,  constitute  the  northeast 


340  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

trade  winds.  Sweeping  over  a  wide  expanse  of  ocean  with- 
out interruption,  they  become  within  a  certain  zone  remark- 
ably steady  and  uniform,  though  affected  more  or  less  by 
changes  of  season  and  external  atmospheric  disturbances. 
.  .  .  The  outer  verge  of  the  Antilles  is  in  the  direct  track 
of  the  trade  winds,  which  have  a  perceptible  effect  in  tem- 
pering and  equalizing  their  climatic  conditions.  Incidentally 
they  give  more  rain  to  the  northern  and  eastern  coasts  than 
to  those  bordering  on  the  Caribbean  Sea,  and  bring  the  rainy 
season,  after  the  first  tropical  heat  of  the  year,  by  condensing 
the  moisture  that  rises  from  the  ocean." 

Hurricanes  originate  in  vast  eddies  in  the  atmosphere, 
caused  by  the  currents  of  heated  air  from  the  eastern  tropic 
regions  meeting  the  returning  currents  of  the  trade  winds 
moving  east  or  north ;  these  eddies  descend  obliquely  until 
they  strike  lower  currents  rushing  in  to  fill  the  equatorial 
vacuum.  The  course  of  the  hurricane  is  usually  across  the 
lower  part  of  the  Lesser  Antilles  and  so  over  the  larger 
islands,  or  some  of  them,  its  spirals  always  circling  from 
left  to  right.  But  these  tornadoes  are  only  occasional,  and 
do  not  prevent  the  beneficent  climatic  effect  of  the  meteor- 
ological conditions  in  the  "West  Indies.  There  is  a  rainy 
season  from  June  to  the  end  of  September,  a  cool  dry  season 
during  the  winter,  and  a  hot  dry  season  during  the  spring; 
the  greatest  heat  is  never  above  98°,  and  the  average  of 
summer  is  about  90°,  while  in  the  cool  period  it  goes  down 
to  78°  in  the  day  time,  and  70°  or  lower  at  night.  These 
are  temperatures  at  sea-level;  on  the  mountains  it  is  much 
cooler;  frost  has  been  known  on  the  summit  of  the  higher 
mountains,  and  at  an  elevation  of  from,  one  to  two  thousand 
feet  the  night  temperature  often  goes  as  low  as  60°. 

No  large  animals  are  native  to  the  West  Indies,  though 
the  remains  of  gigantic  fossil  creatures  have  been  found  in 
Cuba  and  Haiti.  Snakes  are  common  on  some  of  the  islands, 
and  entirely  absent  from  others.  Cattle  of  all  kinds  have 
been  introduced,  and  some  of  them,  such  as  hogs  and  goats, 
flourish  exceedingly;  horses  do  fairly  well;  but  cows  seem 


THE    WEST    INDIES  341 

to  miss  the  coolness  of  their  native  north.  All  kinds  of 
plants,  on  the  other  hand,  attain  a  triumphant  growth,  and 
the  forests  of  the  islands  have  an  almost  appalling  luxuri- 
ance. Mangoes,  oranges,  bananas  and  other  fruits  are  at 
home  in  these  regions,  and  most  of  the  vegetables  which  are 
grown  in  the  north  can  be  raised  there.  The  day  is  near 
when  Cuba  may  be  expected  to  supply  the  whole  of  our 
continent  with  vegetables  during  the  winter  months;  the 
fertility  of  the  soil,  in  that  as  in  other  islands,  surpasses 
all  anticipation.  The  possibilities  of  food  production  of  the 
"West  Indies  have  hardly  been  touched  as  yet;  with  proper 
tools  and  workmen  they  will  be  found  practically  limitless. 
The  growing  of  sugar,  coffee  and  tobacco  form  but  one 
chapter  in  the  story.  It  may  be  said  of  the  islands  that 
they  are  as  potentially  useful  as  they  are  beautiful — a  mine 
of  inexhaustible  wealth,  as  well  as  a  garden  of  loveliness. 
With  ordinary  attention  to  hygiene,  they  are  as  healthful  as 
any  part  of  the  world ;  and  for  some  diseases  their  climate 
is  a  specific. 

Before  the  advent  of  the  Spaniards  they  were  inhabited 
by  two  distinct  races — the  Arawaks,  or  vegetable  feeders, 
and  the  Caribs,  flesh  eaters,  who  are  supposed  to  have  come 
from  the  South  American  coasts.  The  Arawaks  are  re- 
garded as  aborigines ;  but  remains  of  a  different  race  have 
been  found  in  some  of  the  limestone  caves,  which  warrant 
the  inference  that  an  older  race  may  have  preceded  them. 
The  Arawaks  were  a  gentle  and  peaceable  people,  disinclined 
to  war,  and  able  to  perform  such  minor  acts  of  agriculture 
as  might  be  needed  to  supplement  the  natural  fertility  of  the 
soil.  They  spoke  various  dialects  of  one  language,  showing 
that  their  sojourn  must  have  been  a  long  one.  There  may 
have  T^een  some  intermingling  of  the  Maya  people  from 
Central  America  and  Mexico;  but  they  were  less  advanced 
in  the  arts  of  life  than  the  latter.  A  subdivision  of  the 
Arawaks  occupied  the  Bahamas,  and  called  themselves 
Yucayos,  modified  by  the  Spanish  tongue  into  Lucayos. 
They  lived  by  fishing,  and  were  amphibious  in  their  hab- 


342  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

its;  the  water  was  warm,  and,  like  the  natives  of  the  Pacific 
isles,  they  delighted  to  swim  and  dive  in  it.  Their  diving 
was  phenomenal,  and  they  foraged  among  the  bases  of  the 
reefs,  under  water,  as  freely  as  ordinary  people  do  on  dry 
land.  They  went  naked,  and  seldom  needed  the  shelter  of 
a  roof;  when  they  did,  it  was  soon  made  oat  of  a  few  stakes 
and  palm  leaves.  Fish  nets  they  made  out  of  cotton  fibre; 
their  beds  were  of  the  same  material  and  were  called  ham- 
acas,  whence  our  word  hammocks.  Their  weapons  were 
bows  and  arrows,  and  darts  with  fish-bone  heads ;  their  ves- 
sels were  large  canoes  made  by  hollowing-out  the  trunks  of 
the  ceiba  trees.  Their  color  was  a  reddish  brown,  and  their 
stature  short  but  sturdy.  They  compressed  the  heads  of  the 
children  in  infancy,  so  that  the  front  of  the  skull  was  flat- 
tened, and  inclined  backward  from  the  brows. 

The  Cubans,  of  the  same  race,  called  themselves  Ce- 
buynes,  and  were  of  the  same  inoffensive  disposition  as  the 
Lucayos ;  but  owing  to  the  rich  soil  of  Cuba,  which  did  not 
exist  in  the  Bahamas,  they  were  agriculturists,  raising  maize 
and  manioc;  they  manufactured  cotton  fabrics,  and  pottery 
of  a  rude  description.  Their  huts  were  large,  and  contained 
several  families.  They  smoked  tobacco,  which  even  then 
was  of  excellent  quality  in  Cuba,  and  they  had  a  liking  for 
personal  ornament  which  did  not  obtain  among  the  more 
primitive  natives  of  the  Bahamas.  The  people  of  Jamaica 
were  of  a  similar  kind,  and  all  alike  were  unwarlike.  Haiti 
was  as  populous  when  discovered  as  it  is  now ;  it  was  divided 
into  five  parts,  each  with  its  cacique;  but  in  the  interior 
there  was  a  mountainous  region  inhabited  by  Caribs,  and 
said  to  be  rich  in  gold.  These  Caribs  occasionally  came 
down  from  their  heights  and  attacked  the  peaceful  Arawaks. 
The  religion  of  all  the  Arawaks  was  a  worship  of  natural 
forces,  and  they  seem  to  have  had  some  conception  of  a  su- 
preme deity.  Borinquen,  as  Porto  Rico  was  called  by  the 
natives,  was  partly  inhabited  by  Arawaks,  and  partly  by 
Caribs,  who  had  advanced  thus  far  in  their  invasion  from 
the  south.  The  Lesser  Antilles  were  entirely  under  the 


THE    WEST    INDIES  343 

sway  of  the  latter,  who  were  taller  and  of  lighter  color  than 
the  Arawaka,  and  of  an  aggressive  and  sanguinary  temper ; 
they  painted  their  faces  and  bodies  to  inspire  terror,  and 
they  ate  flesh ;  often  it  was  the  flesh  of  human  beings,  which 
they  devoured  either  because  it  was  easier  to  get  on  the 
islands  than  any  other  kind,  or  because  the  practice  was 
connected  in  some  way  with  their  religious  beliefs.     They 
dressed  in  jingling  necklaces  and  girdles  of  bone  and  shells, 
with  bunches  of  feathers  at  available  points.     These  people 
would  rather  fight  than  eat,  fond  as  they  were  of  the  latter 
indulgence ;  and  the  Spaniards  found  them  such  sturdy  foes, 
that  they  finally  gave  up  the  attempt  to  oust  them  from  their 
crescent  of  islets.     They  spoke  two  languages,  one  derived 
from  their  mothers,  who  were  generally  women  stolen  from 
the  Arawaks,  and  the  other  that  of  the  Carib  race  proper, 
which  was  allied  to  the  races  of  the  main.     In  addition  to  the 
arts  practiced  by  the  Arawaks,  they  made  ornaments  out  of 
metal,   kindled  fires  by  rubbing  two  sticks   together,   and 
made  inscriptions  on  stone.      Altogether  they  were  more 
alert  in  mind  as  well  as  in  body  than  their  neighbors  the 
vegetarians,  and  their  conception  of  religion  seems  to  have 
been  somewhat  higher:   they  built  altars  to  the  Unknown 
God.     Their  houses  resembled  the  wigwams  of  our  northern 
Indians;    they  were  chaste  and  cleanly  in  their  lives,  and 
if  it  were  not  for  their  cannibal  propensities,  and  their  ad- 
diction to  fighting,  they  might  be  regarded  as  a  very  decent 
and  estimable  race.     It  is  needless  to  say  that  never,  at  their 
worst,  did  they  compare  with  the  bloodthirsty  and  licentious 
Spaniards. 

We  have  already  noticed  the  blighting  effects  of  Spanish 
domination.  Coming  with  the  thirst  for  gold  already  devel- 
oped, their  first  and  chief  thought  was  to  obtain  it;  and  to 
that  end  they  sought  the  mines.  But  they  would  not  do  the 
work  of  mining  themselves;  they  compelled  the  Arawaks 
to  do  it  for  them ;  and  as  the  latter  were  disinclined  and 
unaccustomed  to  such  toil,  and  incapable  of  supporting  it, 
they  died  by  thousands,  and  other  thousands  of  them  com- 


344  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

mitted  suicide  rather  than  submit  to  the  atrocious  cruelties 
of  their  new  masters.  "To  these  quiet  lambs,"  says  Las 
Casas  in  his  "Relacion,"  "endued  with  such  blessed  quali- 
ties, came  the  Spaniards  like  most  cruel  tigers,  wolves  and 
lions,  enraged  with  sharp  and  tedious  hunger;  minding  noth- 
ing else  but  the  slaughter  of  these  unfortunate  wretches, 
whom  with  divers  kinds  of  torment,  neither  seen  nor  heard 
of  before,  they  have  cruelly  and  inhumanly  butchered;  that 
of  three  million  people  which  Hispaniola  itself  did  contain, 
there  are  left  remaining  scarce  three  hundred  persons." 
(This  calculation  is  perhaps  exaggerated;  there  were  not 
many  more  inhabitants  in  all  the  Greater  Antilles  than  Las 
Casas  gives  to  the  one  island  alone.) — "And  for  the  island 
of  Cuba,  which  contains  as  much  ground  in  length  as  from 
Valladolid  to  Rome" — the  island  is  about  nine  hundred  miles 
long — "it  lies  wholly  untilled  and  ruined.  The  islands  of 
St.  John"  (Porto  Rico)  "and  Jamaica  lie  waste  and  deso- 
late. The  Lucaya  Islands"  (Bahamas),  "neighboring  toward 
the  north  upon  Cuba  and  Hispaniola,  being  above  sixty  or 
thereabout — with  those  islands  which  are  vulgarly  called 
the  islands  of  the  giants,  of  which  that  which  is  the  least 
fertile  is  more  fruitful  than  the  king  of  Spain's  garden  at 
Seville,  being  situate  in  a  pure  and  temperate  air,  are  now 
totally  unpeopled  and  destroyed,  the  inhabitants  thereof, 
amounting  to  about  five  hundred  thousand  souls,  partly 
killed,  and  partly  forced  away  to  work  in  other  places;  so 
that  there  going  a  ship  to  those  parts,  to  glean  the  remain- 
der of  those  distressed  wretches,  there  could  be  found  no 
more  than  eleven  men." 

As  fast  as  the  population  of  one  island  was  exhausted, 
the  Spaniards  proceeded  to  depopulate  another;  until  at 
length  they  arrived  at  the  Lesser  Antilles,  and  were  checked 
there  by  jthe  indomitable  Caribs.  But  labor  must  be  had; 
and  opportunely,  the  African  slave-trade  came  into  exist- 
ence. The  African  coast  belonged  to  Portugal,  according 
to  the  arrangement;  but  though  the  Spaniards  could  not 
legally  follow  the  business,  there  were  others  who  could 


THE   WEST   INDIES  346 

and  did;  notably  the  English,  under  the  lead  of  Sir  John 
Hawkins,  who  made  a  fortune  by  importing  cargoes  of  these 
creatures,  who  were  not  at  that  time  regarded  by  any  one  as 
being  real  human  beings  with  souls ;  but  a  sort  of  connecting 
link  between  men  and  beasts,  devoid  of  all  natural  rights, 
except  the  right  to  be  worked  to  death  without  recompense. 
But  they  did  not  die  so  readily  as  the  Arawaks,  and  were 
therefore  in  great  demand ;  and  as  many  as  four  thousand 
of  them  were  annually  imported  to  the  West  Indies.  So  the 
mining  industry  went  on,  until  the  mines  began  to  show  signs 
of  exhaustion,  and  the  South  American  continent,  rather 
than  the  islands,  came  to  be  looked  to  as  the  true  hunting- 
ground  for  the  precious  metals. 

But  the  slaves  were  on  hand,  and  they  must  work  at 
something.  Columbus  had  brought  sugar-cane  from  the 
Cape  Verde  Islands,  and  it  had  taken  to  its  new  habitat 
with  excellent  results.  Sugar  had  hitherto  been  a  curious 
luxury  in  Europe,  selling  at  an  extravagant  price,  like  some 
rare  drug;  but  in  the  West  Indies  it  could  be  produced  by 
the  cargo,  and  it  soon  became  evident  that  fortunes  were 
to  be  made  out  of  it  even  more  quickly  than  out  of  gold. 
Tobacco  was  also  becoming  exceedingly  popular  in  Europe; 
and  cotton  was  a  profitable  industry.  Here,  then,  was  work 
for  the  negroes ;  and  in  order  to  get  the  full  value  of  their 
riches,  the  Spaniards  attempted  to  monopolize  the  trade  in 
all  these  staples.  This,  like  most  of  the  rest  of  their  colonial 
history,  is  an  illustration  of  the  result  of  killing  the  goose 
with  the  golden  eggs.  Had  they  opened  the  trade,  they 
might  have  got  by  far  the  best  part  of  it  without  trouble, 
and  amassed  wealth  enough  to  satisfy  even  their  greed ;  but 
in  trying  to  keep  all  other  nations  out,  they  opened  the  door 
to  illicit  traffic  of  all  kinds,  whereby  they  finally  lost  every- 
thing. England,  .France  and  Holland  could  sail  the  seas 
as  well  as  Spain,  and  they  delighted  to  harass  the  Spanish 
trade,  to  swoop  down  upon  her  colonies,  and  to  intercept  her 
ships  bearing  gold  and  produce.  Spain  had  a  large  fleet, 
but  it  was  of  course  utterly  inadequate  to  cope  with  such 


346  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

foes,  operating  over  so  vast  a  space.  Year  by  year,  as  the 
struggle  went  on,  they  lost  fully  half  of  each  year's  gains, 
either  by  capture  or  destruction.  In  a  short  time,  smuggling 
and  piracy  became  recognized  industries  in  the  Caribbean. 
Moreover,  although  Spain  was  conceded  to  be  the  legal  pos- 
sessor of  the  whole  archipelago,  the  knowledge  acquired  of 
its  value  by  the  pirates  and  corsairs  led  to  Spanish  rights 
being  defied  by  other  nations,  and,  in  times  of  war  (which 
were  of  constant  occurrence  in  those  ages),  to  the  capturing 
of  islands  by  the  belligerents.  And  most  of  the  money 
which  the  West  Indies  brought  to  Spain  was  spent  in  the 
effort  to  maintain  her  hold  upon  them.  The  attempt  was 
temporarily  successful  as  regarded  the  Greater  Antilles; 
though  later  Spain  lost  both  Haiti  and  Jamaica,  and  finally, 
as  we  of  to-day  have  seen,  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico.  Long 
before  the  end  of  the  coming  century,  the  beautiful  islands 
which  she  oppressed  and  strangled  so  long  will  have  shown 
the  world  of  what  prodigies  they  are  capable. 

Piracy  was  the  natural  sequel  of  unlicensed  trading  with 
the  settlers  and  natives ;  when  the  latter  did  not  feel  inclined 
to  purchase  or  exchange  the  goods  the  traders  offered  them, 
the  traders  took  what  they  wanted,  leaving  the  equivalent, 
or  not,  as  might  seem  most  expedient.  The  French  corsairs 
led  the  way  in  these  transactions;  and  gradually  an  irregular 
warfare  arose  which  had  the  effect  of  rendering  all  property 
insecure,  and  all  lives  imperilled.  In  1538,  and  again  in 
1554,  Havana  was  attacked,  burned  and  looted.  The  Span- 
iards built  forts,  many  of  which  still  remain,  and  they 
patrolled  the  seas  with  their  ships;  but  the  destruction  of 
their  trade  went  on.  The  really  effective  settlers  kept  pull- 
ing up  their  stakes  and  departing  for  more  congenial  fields 
on  the  mainland;  and  the  Island  colonies  were  much  re- 
duced. In  1562  Hawkins  began  the  series  of  voyages  which 
made  him  rich,  and  a  member  of  Parliament;  he  brought 
slaves  from  Africa,  and  took  back  cargoes  of  sugar  and  other 
commodities  which  commanded  a  good  price  in  European 
markets.  Francis  Drake  accompanied  him  on  his  third 


THE    WEST    INDIES  347 

voyage,  being  then  a  youth  of  twenty ;  the  Spaniards  sur- 
prised them  while  refitting  at  Vera  Cruz,  and  they  escaped 
with  only  one  of  their  five  ships.  Drake,  in  after  years, 
amply  revenged  himself  for  this  mishap.  He  was  the 
scourge  of  Spain  in  the  Caribbean  and  on  the  Pacific  coast 
for  many  years,  and  died  at  last  with  his  armor  on  in  Porto 
Bello.  By  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Spain  was 
in  evil  case;  Porto  Rico  was  no  longer  inhabited,  and  the 
three  other  large  islands  were  suffering  for  lack  of  labor, 
not  to  speak  of  the  hostile  corsairs  and  privateers.  The  era 
of  discovery  and  conquest  had  not  ended  so  brilliantly  as  it 
had  promised  to  do  when  it  began. 

England,  being  now  Protestant,  ignored  the  validity  of 
the  Papal  gift  to  Spain;  and  France  did  the  same,  because 
she  and  Spain  were  at  war.  The  Netherlands,  after  shaking 
off  the  Spanish  yoke,  were  more  than  ready  to  take  a  hand 
in  the  game.  Portugal  claimed  Brazil,  and  Spain  could  not 
say  her  nay.  But  the  mainland  still  was  Spain's;  that  is 
to  say,  practically  the  whole  American  continent,  south 
and  north;  for  the  English  colonies  had  not  yet  begun. 
But  Eugland  got  a  foothold  in  Guiana  before  the  end  of 
the  century,  and  Holland  established  her  Dutch  West  India 
Company  in  1621.  She  also  seized  the  small  islands  off  the 
Gulf  of  Venezuela  in  1634.  Ten  years  before  the  English 
had  taken  St.  Kitts  and  Nevis;  and  circumstances  caused 
them  to  divide  the  former  with  the  French.  Later  the  mixed 
colony  was  driven  out  by  Spain,  and  when  the  time  came 
to  return,  England  and  France  were  at  war.  This  is  an 
instance  of  the  inextricable  tangle  of  ownerships  which 
afflicted  many  of  the  islands  of  the  archipelago  for  many 
years.  All  the  European  powers  that  were  interested  in 
them  were  chronically  by  the  ears  with  one  another;  some- 
times they  would  change  sides,  like  partners  in  a  cotillion ; 
from  year  to  year  it  was  impossible  to  predict  who  would 
be  foes  and  who  friends  next.  One  effect  of  the  scramble 
and  confusion  was,  that  all  the  available  islands  became 
known;  the  rights  of  the  natives  were  of  course  ignored 


348  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

throughout,  and  they  were  exceedingly  lucky  if  they  escaped 
with  their  lives.  In  fact,  this  luck  was  denied  them;  and 
to-day  there  remains  but  a  handful  of  the  Caribs  in  one  of 
the  Lesser  Antilles,  and  no  Arawaks  at  all.  The  Bahamas 
had  the  best  of  the  situation  at  this  period;  nobody  seemed 
to  care  for  them;  indeed  they  were  practically  depopulated, 
and  there  was  neither  gold  nor  other  valuable  produce  to 
be  had  there.  But  the  English  made  a  settlement  in  New 
Providence  about  1630,  though  they  did  not  hold  on  to  it  at 
the  time,  nor  was  it  until  late  in  the  eighteenth  century  that 
they  finally  took  possession.  Barbadoes,  which  had  never 
really  been  discovered  by  the  Spaniards,  was  taken  by  the 
English  as  far  back  as  1605,  and  was  colonized  twenty  years 
afterward ;  and  the  English  have  held  the  place  undisturbed 
ever  since.  Tobago  was  also  appropriated  by  England,  but 
Trinidad  remained  with  Spain  until  much  later.  Jamaica 
had  been  reduced  to  a  bloodstained  wilderness  by  Spain  early 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  there  were  hardly  three  thou- 
sand inhabitants  left  in  it,  including  fifteen  hundred  slaves. 
In  1655,  Cromwell  being  then  ruler  of  England,  a  fleet  under 
Admiral  Penn  captured  the  island ;  the  Spanish  residents  fled 
to  Cuba,  and  the  negroes  took  to  the  woods  and  mountains, 
where  their  descendents  still  remain  unconquered  under 
the  name  of  Maroons — which  being  interpreted  is  mountain- 
dwellers.  A  rabble  of  English  reprobates  and  Jews  went 
out  to  colonize  the  place.  The  island  of  St.  Thomas  had 
been  a  stronghold  of  pirates,  but  was  taken  by  a  Danish 
trading  company,  and  the  two  other  Danish  Islands  were 
purchased  by  Denmark  afterward.  But  altogether  this  story 
of  the  fight  for  the  West  Indies  is  a  strange  and  stirring  one, 
crowded  with  vicissitudes,  and  full  of  the  wildest  romance, 
and  the  most  savage  tragedies  and  dramatic  passages.  The 
whole  truth  of  what  happened  in  these  two  centuries  can 
never  be  known ;  but  what  we  do  know  is  stimulating  enough, 
and  in  fact  it  has  given  a  color  to  English  romantic  fiction 
which  is  perceptible  even  yet. 

It  was  in  the  seventeenth  century  that  the  buccaneers 


THE    WEST    INDIES  349 

enjoyed  their  extraordinary  predominance.  Their  name  is 
derived  from  a  peaceable  verb  or  noun,  referring  to  the 
process  of  curing  meat  by  smoking  it.  This  was  first  prac- 
ticed by  the  natives,  and  from  them  the  wandering  mari 
ners,  with  the  quickness  of  their  kind,  caught  it  up;  the 
French  language  then  stepped  in  and  called  one  who  pre- 
pared meat  by  smoking,  "boucanier,"  and  the  English  fin- 
ished the  matter  by  Englishing  it  into  buccaneer.  But  it 
was  not  long  before  the  last  thing  that  any  one  thought  of 
in  speakirg  of  these  wild  outlaws  was  their  meat-smoking 
habits.  They  were  much  too  famous  for  other  things. 

The  thing  began  quite  naturally,  and  without  premedi- 
tation. The  sea  was  full  of  roving  vessels,  crowded  with 
crews  most  of  whom  had  no  home  but  salt  water,  and  no 
moral  or  other  restraints  of  any  kind.  Knots  of  these  sav- 
age mariners  would  go  ashore  to  hunt  hogs  and  have  fun 
with  the  natives;  and  many  of  them  found  the  environment 
so  agreeable  that  they  never  rejoined  their  ships.  They 
might  or  might  not  be  susceptible  to  the  delicious  beauty 
of  the  scenery;  but  they  no  doubt  appreciated  the  charms 
of  the  soft  and  equable  climate,  and  the  voluptuous  ease  of 
life,  which  no  labor  was  needed  to  support;  or  if  any  labor 
was  to  be  done,  were  not  the  natives  there  to  do  it?  If  they 
wanted  a  wife,  there  was  a  dusky  woman  to  bear  and  rear 
their  children,  and  attend  to  their  domestic  comforts.  And 
then,  if  they  wanted  (as  of  course  nearly  all  of  them  did)  to 
amass  riches,  with  the  vague  idea  of  some  time  going  home 
to  spend  it,  there  were  Spanish  galleons  to  be  captured,  and 
colonies  to  be  raided.  It  was  *' camping-out"  in  excel  sis, 
with  robbery  and  piracy  thrown  in  as  condiments. 

The  first  considerable  settlement  of  them  got  together  in 
Tortugas,  off  the  northwest  of  Haiti,  and  they  gradually 
collected  quite  a  fleet  of  small  vessels;  and  being  attacked 
by  Spaniards,  they  entered  upon  a  war  of  reprisals.  A  sort 
of  Freemasonry  was  established  among  them,  which  their 
common  hatred  of  the  Spaniards  cemented,  and  they  called 
themselves  the  Brethren  of  the  Coast.  They  were  also 


HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

known  as  freebooters,  meaning  free-plunderers,  which  was 
metamorphosed  by  the  Spanish  into  Flibustier,  from  which 
we  get  our  word  filibuster.  But  under  whatever  name  they 
figure,  they  made  their  mark,  and  a  very  bloody  one  it  was; 
though  one  cannot  help  feeling  a  great  deal  of  sympathy 
with  outlaws  so  picturesque  and  audacious. 

When  France  attacked  Haiti,  in  1641,  using  Tortugas 
as  a  base,  the  buccaneers  helped  her;  when  Spain  got  pos- 
session of  Tortugas,  in  1654,  the  buccaneers  became  allies 
of  the  English  in  their  expedition  against  Jamaica;  and 
when  Penn's  fleet  took  the  island,  they  established  them- 
selves at  Port  Royal,  on  the  spit  of  land  guarding  the  en- 
trance of  Kingston  Harbor.  Port  Royal  then  became  a 
place  such  as  was  never  known  in  history  before  or  since; 
a  day  spent  there  would  have  been  as  full  of  adventure  and 
danger  as  a  dozen  ordinary  lifetimes.  The  buccaneers  were 
countenanced  by  the  English  owing  to  their  hostility  to  Spain. 
They  also  had  other  gathering  places,  in  the  Bahamas  and 
elsewhere ;  and  men  arose  who  were  regarded  as  their  lead- 
ers. To  be  a  leader  of  such  a  gang  must  have  required 
qualities  of  no  common  sort.  Montbar,  a  Frenchman,  was 
one  of  them,  and  Lolonois  was  another.  In  Jamaica,  Henry 
Morgan  was  their  most  famous  captain;  he  was  a  Welsh- 
man, and  he  was  in  the  habit  of  plundering  cities  on  the 
main,  and  bringing  his  spoils  to  Port  Royal.  All  went  well 
until  war  between  Spain  and  England  ceased;  and  Morgan's 
exploit  of  burning  the  city  of  Panama  was  the  last  notable 
deed  accredited  to  the  Caribbean  buccaneers.  Morgan  made 
his  peace  with  the  authorities,  and  lived  to  be  twice  Acting 
Governor  of  Jamaica;  Charles  II.  bestowed  upon  him  the 
honor  of  knighthood,  and  he  died  rich  and  at  peace  with 
the  world. 

The  buccaneers  were  succeeded  iii  the  next  century  by 
pirates  pure  and  simple,  who  were  their  natural  heirs;  for 
when  there  came  to  be  great  difficulty  (owing  to  the  treaties 
of  peace  and  declarations  of  war  between  various  nations 
getting  mixed  up)  in  knowing  who  your  enemy  was,  the 


THE    WEST    INDIES  351 

time  was  come  for  men  who  were  enemies  of  all  alike.  The 
most  notorious  and  picturesque  of  these  blackguards  was 
Edward  Teach,  called  Captain  Blackboard;  no  pirate  who 
so  thoroughly  filled  the  role  as  he  did  has  ever  been  known. 
He  was  the  terror  of  the  seas  to  all  who  sailed  upon  them, 
while  he  lived;  and  he  died  in  character,  in  a  fight  with  a 
British  warship.  They  cut  off  his  head,  and  fixed  it  at  the 
end  of  the  bowsprit.  A  description  of  him  by  one  who  had 
the  pleasure  of  his  personal  acquaintance  runs  as  follows: 
"His  beard  was  of  extravagant  length;  as  to  breadth,  it 
came  up  to  his  eyes.  He  was  accustomed  to  twist  it  with 
ribbons,  in  small  tails,  after  the  manner  of  our  Ramile  wigs, 
and  turn  them  about  his  ears.  In  time  of  action  he  wore  a 
sling  over  his  shoulders,  with  three  brace  of  pistols  hanging 
in  holsters  like  bandeliers,  and  stuck  lighted  matches  under 
his  hat,  which,  appearing  on  each  side  of  his  face,  his  eyes 
naturally  looking  fierce  and  wild,  made  him  altogether  such 
a  figure  that  imagination  cannot  form  an  idea  of  a  fury  from 
hell  to  look  more  frightful."  His  deeds  were  quite  as  terri- 
ble as  his  looks,  and  there  is  no  feat  of  daring  or  brutality 
which  he  did  not  rival  in  his  own  career.  He  was  the  hus- 
band of  as  many  wives  as  a  Mormon  elder  of  the  old  style; 
and  the  number  of  men  he  had  killed  with  his  own  hand  he 
could  not  himself  have  told  within  a  score  or  so.  Another 
great  pirate  was  Bartholomew  Roberts,  who  was  the  espe- 
cial foe  of  Dutchmen,  and  who  has  the  unique  distinction  of 
having  drawn  up  a  set  of  very  stringent  and  estimable  rules 
for  the  discipline  of  his  crews.  They  were  not  to  play  games 
for  money;  they  were  to  turn  in  at  eight  o'clock;  they  were 
to  have  no  women  or  boys  on  board;  they  were  to  keep  their 
weapons  clean,  and  they  were  to  be  shot  if  they  attempted  to 
desert.  This  code  sheds  an  unexpected  side-light  upon  the 
pirating  industry.  As  for  Captain  Kidd,  the  best  known  of 
all  pirates,  not  so  much  on  account  of  what  he  "did,  as  he 
sailed,"  as  by  reason  of  the  iniquitous  trial  which  resulted 
in  his  condemnation,  he  began  his  career  as  a  putter-down  of 
piracy  in  the  Caribbean ;  but  he  seems  to  have  found  in  the 


352  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

vice  something  first  to  endure,  then  to  pity,  and  finally  to 
embrace;  and  though  his  exploits  in  piracy  were  not  per- 
formed in  the  archipelago,  their  fame  is  wide  enough,  and 
the  amount  of  treasure  he  is  alleged  to  have  buried  would 
pay  the  English  debt. 

After  much  confused  fighting  for  possession  of  various 
islands  between  the  belligerents,  a  determined  struggle  be- 
gan between  England  and  France  in  1756,  and  lasted  seven 
years.  At  the  outset,  France  held  the  southern  Caribbees, 
except  Barbadoes  and  Trinidad ;  three  years  after  war  broke 
out,  the  English  got  possession  of  Guadeloupe,  which  had 
previously  been  French,  and  kept  hold  of  it  till  the  war  was 
over.  In  1762  Rodney,  the  famous  English  admiral,  took  a 
fleet  of  eighteen  ships  from  Barbadoes  to  Martinique,  and 
captured  that  island,  Granada,  Tobago,  St.  Vincent  and  St. 
Lucia.  Spain  siding  with  France,  Admiral  Pococke  laid 
siege  to  Havana  and  captured  it;  which  brought  about 
peace  the  following  year.  By  its  terms,  Cuba  was  returned 
to  Spain  in  exchange  for  Florida,  and  the  smaller  islands 
were  divided  between  England  and  France. 

But,  in  1778,  war  broke  out  anew,  owing  to  the  alliance 
between  France  and  the  United  States,  then  fighting  Eng- 
land for  their  liberty.  English  and  French  fleets  seized 
islands  in  the  Lesser  Antilles,  belonging  to  each  other;  and 
Count  de  Grasse  came  over  with  a  large  fleet,  and  captured 
Granada  and  St.  Vincent,  before  the  English,  under  Ad- 
miral Byron,  could  arrive  upon  the  scene.  Things  did  not 
go  well  with  the  latter,  and  Rodney,  though  no  friend  of  the 
then  administration,  was  sent  to  supersede  Byron  and  save 
the  day.  On  his  way  out  he  captured  a  Spanish  squadron 
off  Cape  Finisterre— for  Spain  was  again  on  the  wrong  side 
of  the  scrape — and  also  destroyed  a  force  at  Cape  St.  Vin- 
cent; after  sending  part  of  his  fleet  to  the  Mediterranean, 
he  arrived  at  St.  Lucia  in  March,  1780.  Here  he  tried  to 
bring  on  a  fight  with  a  French  fleet,  double  the  size  of  his 
own,  under  Count  de  Guichen;  but  the  count  would  not  en- 
gage. Later  in  the  year  Holland  got  caught  in  the  trouble, 


THE   WEST    INDIES  353 

owing  to  her  support  of  the  United  States,  and  Rodney  im- 
proved the  opportunity  to  seize  the  Dutch  island  of  St.  Eu- 
statius.  This,  however,  did  not  stand,  because  there  were 
English  interests  involved  in  the  trade  of  St.  Eustatius;  and 
Rodney  was  in  trouble  with  his  home  authorities  in  conse- 
quence. He  came  home,  sick  and  angry,  in  1781.  Now 
fortune  turned  for  a  while  against  England,  which  was 
beaten  in  the  United  States,  and  was  in  danger  of  losing 
her  West  Indian  acquisitions  owing  to  the  activity  of  De 
Grasse.  There  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  send  out  Rodney 
once  more ;  he  might  not  be  agreeable  to  the  English  cabi- 
net, but  he  could  fight  Frenchmen.  He  overtook  the  French 
fleet  off  Dominica,  split  it  in  two,  and  completely  defeated 
it;  for  which,  in  spite  of  his  enemies,  he  was  made  Lord 
Rodney  with  a  pension  of  two  thousand  pounds.  By  the 
peace  which  followed,  England  got  back  all  her  islands 
except  Tobago;  but  when  war  once  more  began,  ten  years 
later,  she  recaptured  this,  captured  Martinique,  St.  Lucia 
and  Guadeloupe,  and  took  Trinidad  from  Spain,  which  was 
still  fighting  on  the  French  side.  England  was  now  every- 
where victorious;  and,  in  1814,  a  peace  was  made  by  which 
she  was  allowed  to  keep  Trinidad  and  St.  Lucia,  but  Curacoa 
was  restored  to  the  Dutch.  During  the  war,  in  1805,  Nelson 
had  swept  through  the  Caribbean  in  pursuit  of  the  French, 
whom  he  chased  to  Spain  and  defeated  at  Trafalgar.  It 
should  not  be  forgotten,  too,  that  Haiti  gained  its  independ- 
ence in  1801,  though  the  eastern  part  remained  under  French 
control  till  1808,  when  Spain,  with  the  help  of  England,  got 
possession  of  it,  and  retained  it  till  the  revolution  of  1821, 
which  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  an  independent 
republic. 

The  division  of  the  islands  was  now  as  follows:  Spain 
kept  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico;  Haiti  and  San  Domingo  were 
republics  of  negroes ;  Jamaica,  the  Bahamas  and  most  of  the 
Lesser  Antilles  were  England's;  France  had  Guadeloupe, 
Martinique,  and  other  small  islands;  Holland  kept  Curacoa, 
Aruba,  Buen  Ayre,  St.  Eustatius  and  a  few  more;  Denmark 


354  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

retained  what  she  had  had  from  the  first ;  and  so  things  re- 
mained until,  in  1898,  the  war  between  Spain  and  the  United 
States  banished  the  former  power  from  American  waters 
forever. 

The  attempt  to  abolish  the  African  slave-trade  in  the 
West  Indies  was  begun,  late  in  the  eighteenth  century,  by 
such  men  as  Wilberf orce  and  Clarkson ;  but  it  was  not  until 
long  after  that  it  ceased  not  only  in  name  but  in  reality. 
The  slaves  of  Englishmen  were  at  this  time  worse  treated 
than  those  of  the  Spaniards,  for  the  reason  that  English 
owners  in  Jamaica  were  non-residents,  and  their  overseers 
acted  without  restraint ;  whereas  the  Spaniards  actually  lived 
on  their  plantations,  and  came  into  relations  with  their  slaves 
more  or  less  resembling  those  between  our  own  Southern 
planters  and  their  bondmen.  Denmark,  Great  Britain, 
France,  Holland,  and  finally  Spain  issued  decrees  abolish- 
ing the  slave-trade,  between  the  years  1792  and  1820;  but 
it  is  estimated  that  half  a  million  blacks  were  imported 
illicitly  after  the  prohibition.  The  next  step  was  to  put 
an  end  to  slavery  itself;  but  this  was  regarded  as  Utopian. 
The  emancipation  in  Haiti,  however,  caused  agitation  among 
slaves  in  the  other  islands,  which  was  increased  by  the  radi- 
cal influence  of  missionaries.  But  it  was  not  until  1833  that 
the  British  Parliament  declared  that  slavery  in  British  col- 
onies'must  end  on  the  first  of  August  of  the  following  year. 
France  followed  this  example  fourteen  years  later.  Den- 
mark freed  her  slaves  about  the  same  time.  Holland  did 
not  come  into  line  until  1863,  when  a  partial  measure  of  re- 
lief was  introduced,  and  complete  emancipation  was  granted 
in  1873.  Spanish  slaves  in  Porto  Rieo  were  freed  the  same 
year;  but  those  in  Cuba  were  not  emancipated  till  1886. 
The  effect  of  these  proceedings  differed  according  to  the 
local  circumstances  in  various  islands.  It  practically  ruined 
the  sugar  business  in  Jamaica,  and  to  a  less  extent  Trinidad 
and  Dominica  suffered;  in  Barbadoes,  where  the  free  ne- 
groes had  to  work  or  starve,  owing  to  the  fact  that  all  the 
land  was  under  white  ownership,  there  was  little  trouble. 


THE    WEST    INDIES  355 

French  islands  were  similarly  affected,  but  suffered  less,  on 
account  of  the  actual  residence  of  many  of  the  French  plant- 
ers on  their  plantations;  and  in  the  Spanish  islands,  where 
there  were  more  white  than  black  inhabitants,  little  incon- 
venience was  felt.  But  the  great  problem  of  the  West  In- 
dies is  the  existence  there  of  millions  of  negroes,  who  cannot, 
in  the  majority  of  cases,  be  forced  to  work,  and  who  consti- 
tute an  idle  and  menacing  element  of  vast  extent  throughout 
the  archipelago.  The  example  of  Haiti  shows  the  hideous 
results  of  allowing  the  negroes  to  take  care  of  themselves. 
In  Jamaica,  there  are  more  than  sixty  negroes  for  every 
white  man,  and  the  island,  owing  in  part  to  the  bounty  on 
other  kinds  of  sugar,  is  practically  gone  to  waste.  The 
mooted  project  of  our  taking  it  in  exchange  from  England 
for  our  newly-acquired  East  Indian  possessions  cannot  be 
too  strongly  condemned.  The  negroes  cannot  be  deported, 
and  they  are  by  no  means  dying  out — quite  the  contrary; 
so  that  unless  some  means  of  dealing  with  the  difficulty  be 
found,  they  will  in  time  crowd  out  the  whites  by  regular 
natural  increase.  The  outlook,  in  this  direction,  is  not 
reassuring. 

Let  us  now  look  a  little  more  closely  at  the  character 
and  condition  of  some  of  the  more  important  islands.  Cuba, 
as  has  been  remarked,  is  about  nine  hundred  miles  in  length, 
following  the  curve  of  its  dorsal  ridge,  though  between  lati- 
tudes it  is  a  hundred  and  forty  miles  less.  Its  width  varies 
from  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  to  forty.  It  con- 
tains about  forty-five  thousand  square  miles  of  territory 
within  its  proper  boundaries,  and  two  thousand  more  in  the 
adjoining  Isle  of  Pines  on  the  south  coast.  The  geological 
formation  is  peculiar;  a  calcareous  shell  overlies  a  substra- 
tum of  tertiary  rocks,  which  in  some  places  projects  through 
the  crust.  The  mountain  range  of  the  Sierra  Maestra  runs 
along  the  southern  coast  of  the  province  of  Santiago  de  Cuba, 
about  on  the  twentieth  parallel  of  north  latitude,  ascending 
in  the  Pico  de  Turquino  to  a  height  of  over  eight  thousand 
feet.  North  and  west  of  this  mountainous  region  is  a  de- 
—  16 


356  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

pression,  through  which  flows  the  river  Cauto  with  its  tribu- 
taries. Beyond  this  broad  valley,  still  north  and  west,  is  a 
region  of  detached  mountains  and  gorges ;  but  they  prevail 
chiefly  along  the  north  coast,  the  south  being  lower,  with 
fertile  plains  and  numerous  minor  rivers.  This  brings  us  to 
about  the  centre  of  the  island,  where  the  breadth  is  scarcely 
seventy-five  miles,  and  across  which  a  trail,  or  trocha, 
formerly  took  its  course;  the  region  is  low,  with  bordering 
marshes.  Thence,  proceeding  west,  there  are  more  irregu- 
lar mountains,  though  seldom  rising  higher  than  a  thousand 
feet;  they  reach  the  southern  coast  near  the  present  town  of 
Trinidad.  Beyond  this,  the  southern  coast  again  becomes 
low,  until  beyond  the  fine  harbor  of  Cienfuegos  it  sinks  into 
marshes.  The  northern  coast  still  rises  in  mountainous  ele- 
vations toward  Havana,  on  the  north,  and  these  elevations 
continue  along  the  western  extremity  of  the  island,  like  a 
backbone.  But  the  final  tongue  of  western  land,  from  the 
town  of  San  Julian  to  Cape  San  Antonio,  is  marshy. 

The  rivers  are  small;  the  largest,  Rio  Cauto,  being  but 
one  hundred  and  thirty  miles  in  length.  Its  course  is  nearly 
east  and  west,  and  it  empties  into  the  Gulf  of  Guacanabo. 
The  other  large  river  is  Sagua  La  Grande,  on  the  north 
coast,  which  reaches  the  sea  on  the  eightieth  meridian.  The 
majority  of  the  rivers  vary  according  to  the  season  in  the 
amount  of  water  they  discharge;  and  owing  to  the  calca- 
reous shell  overlying  the  rock,  and  forming  enormous  cav- 
ernous regions  underground,  many  of  these  streams  disap- 
pear during  their  course,  sometimes  to  reappear  further  on, 
but  often  vanishing  completely,  and  seeking  the  sea  by  a 
subterranean  passage.  There  are  several  lakes  in  different 
places,  but  fewer  than  would  be  the  case  but  for  these  under- 
ground leakages.  Large  lagoons,  however,  exist  in  the  low- 
lands along  the  coast,  abounding  in  alligators  and  turtles. 
A  great  part  of  the  Cuban  coast  is  fringed  with  reefs  of  coral 
formation;  the  most  considerable  of  these  is  on  the  north 
coast,  west  of  Nue vitas,  where  a  series  of  great  cayos  stretch 
along  in  a  northwesterly  direction,  at  a  distance  of  from 


GUAYAQUIL  HARBOR,  ECUADOR 


VALPARAISO 


•Spanish  America, 


THE    WEST    INDIES  357 

ten  to  twenty  miles  from  the  real  shore.  The  total  length  of 
this  series  of  cayos  is  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles, 
with  an  average  breadth  of  ten  miles.  Smaller  islets  and 
broken  reefs  lie  along  the  greater  part  of  the  northern  shore. 
Off  the  southern  coast  there  is  an  immense  quantity  of  small 
islets,  spreading  out  over  an  area  about  one  hundred  miles 
in  width.  By  far  the  largest  of  these  is  the  Isle  of  Pines, 
already  mentioned,  which  has  several  small  hills  upon  it. 
There  is  a  great  growth  of  pines  there — a  tree  found  nowhere 
else  in  the  West  Indies.  The  navigation  of  the  Cuban  coast 
is  dangerous,  but  there  are  several  fine  harbors,  such  as 
Bahia  Honda,  Cabanas,  Mariel,  Havana,  Matanzas,  Car- 
denas, Nuevitas,  Nipe  and  Malaguete  on  the  north;  and  on 
the  south,  Guantanamo,  Santiago  de  Cuba,  and  Cienfuegos. 
Very  little  is  known  of  the  gold-producing  capabilities 
of  Cuba.  Not  much  gold  has  been  discovered,  and  such 
beds  as  were  found  were  not  of  great  extent.  Silver  and 
copper  have  been  found,  but  in  no  sensational  quantity. 
Iron  also  exists,  but  to  what  extent  is  unknown.  Good 
bituminous  coal  is  present  in  many  places,  and  deposits  of 
pitch.  Slate  quarries  are  worked  near  Havana,  and  marble 
and  jasper  are  also  found.  What  is  first  required  is  thorough 
exploration  and  scientific  surveys;  almost  nothing  is  yet 
known  of  the  Cuban  interior;  there  are  twenty  million  acres 
of  unclaimed  land,  and  thirteen  million  acres  of  it  are  virgin 
forest,  abounding  in  mahogany  and  ebony  and  other  precious 
woods.  Fruits,  farinaceous  plants,  and  maize  are  abundant, 
and  many  spices  also  grow  in  the  forests.  The  soil  is  of 
enormous  richness,  and  hospitable  to  all  manner  of  exotics. 
Of  animals  there  are  few;  the  raccoon  was  indigenous;  dogs 
and  cats  were  brought  by  the  Spaniards,  and  there  are  also 
European  deer.  There  are  alligators  or  caimans,  many  kinds 
of  land  lizards,  snakes,  one  at  least  of  which  is  venomous; 
scorpions  and  tarantulas,  unpleasant  companions,  but  not 
so  deadly  as  in  Central  America.  There  are  ants  of  all  kinds 
and  in  vast  quantities,  and  another  troublesome  inhabitant 
is  the  land  crab,  which  is  large  and  of  a  restless  and  investi- 


358  HISTORY   OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

gating  disposition.  There  are  about  two  hundred  species  of 
birds,  and  of  these  many  are  humming-birds.  The  vulture 
and  turkey  buzzard  are  numerous,  and  are  not  molested, 
on  account  of  their  activity  as  scavengers.  The  climate  is 
delightful  except  during  the  height  of  the  rainy  season,  and 
is  healthy  in  the  upland  regions  at  all  times.  The  rainy 
season,  which  is  also  the  warm  period,  lasts  from  May  to 
October;  it  is  dry  and  comparatively  cool  from  November  to 
April.  It  does  not  rain  heavily  for  more  than  a  part  of  the 
wet  season,  and  there  are  occasional  showers  during  the  dry 
season.  The  heaviest  rains  are  on  the  northeast  coast.  The 
heat  seldom  is  as  high  as  90°,  and  in  winter  the  temperature 
sinks  as  low  as  58°.  With  proper  drainage,  there  would  be 
no  unhealthy  districts  in  Cuba,  and  the  higher  ground  is 
always  healthy.  In  addition  to  the  political  divisions  of 
fehe  island,  it  is  also  referred  to  in  common  speech  by  names 
applied  to  the  various  component  regions.  Thus  the  Vuelta 
Abajo  is  the  end  west  from  Havana;  from  Havana  east  to 
Santa  Clara  is  Vuelta  Arriba ;  next  to  this  is  the  Cinco  Villas 
section ;  and  the  part  lying  east  of  Puerto  Principe  is  Tierra 
Adentro. 

The  town  of  Havana  was  founded  in  1519,  and  its  cathe- 
dral was  built  in  1714.  Velasquez  had  made  a  settlement 
near  Baracoa  in  1511;  but  Hernando  de  Soto  was  the  first 
royal  governor,  appointed  in  1538.  He  fortified  Havana 
before  setting  out  on  his  expedition  to  the  coast  of  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico.  Both  the  Morro  and  the  Castillo  de  la  Punta 
were  built  before  the  seventeenth  century,  and  often  strength- 
ened afterward.  During  the  seventeenth  and  most  of  the 
eighteenth  centuries  there  was  but  little  progress  in  the  col- 
ony; cattle  raising  was  the  chief  industry  up  to  1580,  when 
tobacco  and  sugar  were  cultivated;  but  the  buccaneers  so 
paralyzed  trade  that  the  prosperity  of  these  industries,  des- 
tined to  be  so  great,  was  slow  in  coming.  Still  more  destruc- 
tive to  well-being  of  an  industrial  or  commercial  sort  was 
Spain's  own  stifling  policy,  and  the  wholesale  robbery  car- 
ried on  by  the  officials  sent  from  Spain  to  govern  the  island. 


THE    WEST    INDIES  359 

After  the  Seven  Years'  War,  matters  began  to  mend,  estates 
were  taken  up,  and  the  discovery  was  made  that  fortunes 
were  to  be  won  by  their  cultivation.  The  white  population 
was  increased,  many  Spanish  peasants  being  induced  to  emi- 
grate. Governor  Don  Luis  Las  Casas,  appointed  in  1790, 
made  improvements  in  trade  and  industry,  and  the  Count  of 
Santa  Clara,  who  followed  him,  strengthened  the  defences 
of  the  ports.  The  revolution  in  Haiti  caused  numbers  of 
Frenchmen  from  that  island  to  take  up  their  residence  in 
Cuba,  with  beneficial  results.  When,  in  1808,  Napoleon 
denied  to  Ferdinand  the  right  to  ascend  the  Spanish  throne, 
the  members  of  the  Cuban  Cabildo  all  took  the  oath  of  alle- 
giance to  the  latter,  thereby  earning  for  the  island  the  title 
of  the  "Ever-Faithful."  But  the  government  of  the  colony 
was  in  a  rotten  condition,  and  Cuba  was  really  on  the  verge 
of  revolt.  In  1825  the  powers  given  to  the  governor  were 
practically  absolute,  as  under  martial  law;  he  was  called 
captain-general,  and  was  always  of  the  rank  of  lieutenant- 
general  in  the  regular  army.  He  was  answerable  for  his 
acts  only  to  the  sovereign  of  Spain ;  his  power  was  supreme 
not  only  in  military  matters,  bu^  in  civil  and  ecclesiastical  as 
well.  The  six  subordinate  provincial  governors  were  also 
military  officers  appointed  by  the  crown,  and  they  were  sub- 
ject to  the  captain-general's  orders.  There  were  thirty-four 
lesser  captaincies,  and  each  town  had  its  ayuntamiento  and 
mayor;  but  all  were  under  orders  of  the  head  at  Havana. 
A  more  compact  and  arbitrary  despotism  could  not  be  con- 
ceived. 

There  were  two  military  departments — of  Havana  and 
of  Santiago;  the  navy  had  five  stations  at  points  on  the 
coasts;  the  peace  footing  of  the  army  was  twenty  thousand 
men;  there  was  a  bishopric  at  Santiago  which  had  exclusive 
jurisdiction  up  to  1788.  The  Havana  diocese  was  then  cre- 
ated, and  Santiago  afterward  became  an  archbishopric.  The 
Inquisition  had  been  in  operation  since  the  sixteenth  century. 
There  was  a  supreme  court  at  Havana,  and  two  superior 
courts,  of  which  one  was  at  Puerto  Principe.  The  number 


360  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

of  judicial  districts  was  twenty-six,  and  there  were  many 
local  magistrates.  All  the  higher  and  most  of  the  lower 
offices  were  filled  by  Spaniards,  according  to  the  Spanish 
policy.  Corruption  was  notoriously  rife  among  them  all. 
Even  the  rector  of  the  university  was  subject  to  the  captain- 
general.  The  greater  part  of  the  Cubans  were  illiterate,  in 
spite  of  educational  regulations.  The  salary  of  the  captain- 
general  was  the  same  as  that  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States;  the  archbishop  received  $18,000,  and  each  provincial 
governor  $12,000.  All  charges  were  paid  by  the  revenues 
of  the  island,  in  addition  to  six  million  a  year  sent  to  the 
home  government.  The  taxes,  nevertheless,  were  to  a  great 
extent  stolen  by  the  officials.  It  is  little  wonder  that  under 
such  a  system  the  Cubans,  who  were  deprived  of  all  power 
to  better  their  condition,  were  unable  to  make  any  progress 
in  productivity. 

The  six  provinces  of  the  island  divide  it  into  sections 
running  north  and  south.  Pinar  del  Rio  is  the  westernmost 
of  these;  then  comes  Havana,  which  includes  the  Isle  of 
Pines.  The  best  tobacco  region  is  in  Pinar  del  Rio,  which 
is  about  conterminous  witlj  Vuelta  Abajo.  Matanzas  has 
no  southern  coast-line,  Santa  Clara  coming  in  beneath  it;  it 
has  the  best  sugar  plantations,  and  is  comparatively  well 
cultivated.  Santa  Clara,  besides  sugar,  grows  many  fruits 
and  is  supposed  to  have  mineral  deposits.  Puerto  Principe 
is  in  the  low  middle  of  the  island,  partly  mountainous  how- 
ever on  the  north,  and  overgrown  with  woods ;  here  too  are 
the  most  extensive  caverns.  Most  of  the  revolutionary  ris- 
ings have  had  their  rendezvous  in  this  region,  the  fastnesses 
of  which  are  impenetrable.  Santiago  de  Cuba  covers  the 
east  end  of  the  island,  and  has  copper  and  iron  deposits. 

Havana,  chief  city  of  Cuba  and  of  the  "West  Indies,  lies 
on  the  western  shore  of  a  fine  harbor,  the  entrance  to  which 
is  through  a  narrow,  well-defended  channel.  The  bay  is 
partly  surrounded  by  low  hills.  A  wall  surrounded  the  city 
on  the  land  side  in  old  times,  and  the  intramural  and  extra- 
mura)  cities  are  still  distinguished  from  each  other.  There 


THE   WEST   INDIES  361 

are  several  public  buildings,  in  addition  to  the  churches,  and 
there  are  handsome  prados  and  gardens.  The  hotels  are 
numerous  but  bad;  there  are  four  theatres  and  innumerable 
cafes.  The  town  is  the  centre  of  the  tobacco  business,  and 
has  many  manufactories  of  cigars.  The  population  is  in  the 
neighborhood  of  two  hundred  thousand.  The  town  of  Pinar 
del  Rio,  in  the  interior,  has  twenty  thousand  inhabitants  and 
is  surrounded  with  tobacco  plantations;  there  are  mineral 
springs  near  San  Diego,  in  the  Organos  hills;  Guines,  also 
inland,  is  the  centre  of  the  agricultural  interest.  Matanzas, 
east  of  Havana,  has  ninety  thousand  inhabitants  and  a 
splendid  harbor;  it  is  named  from  a  massacre  of  natives 
which  took  place  on  its  site.  Its  business  is  exporting  sugar 
and  molasses.  Cardenas  is  still  further  east,  and  is  called 
the  American  city,  owing  to  the  number  of  Americans  in 
business  there  as  manufacturers  and  traders ;  it  has  railway 
connections  with  all  important  parts.  Further  east,  the  chief 
ports  of  trade  are  on  the  south  coast.  Cienfuegos  has  what 
has  been  called  the  finest  harbor  hi  the  world,  but  the  town 
was  not  built  until  1819.  Trinidad,  a  much  older  town,  is 
inactive  owing  to  its  inferior  situation  at  the  end  of  a  series 
of  small  bays.  There  is  a  fine  tobacco  region  in  this  vicinity. 
Santa  Clara,  inland,  is  surrounded  by  valuable  mineral  veins. 
Puerto  Principe  is  not  a  port,  but  stands  midway  between  the 
two  coasts;  Nue  vitas,  its  port,  originally  bore  its  name.  San- 
tiago was  founded  by  Velasquez  in  1515  and  was  at  first  the 
Cuban  capital ;  its  harbor  is  but  a  hundred  and  eighty  yards 
across  at  the  mouth,  but  runs  inland  six  miles,  with  the  town 
at  its  furthest  extremity.  The  cathedral  was  built  in  1523. 
The  town  of  Manzanillo  is  at  the  mouths  of  the  Rio  Cauto, 
and  is  a  port  for  sugar  export  and  tobacco,  and  also  for 
honey  and  wax.  Finally,  Baracoa,  though  the  original 
landing-place  of  Velasquez,  and  four  hundred  years  old,  has 
but  five  thousand  inhabitants,  and  deals  only  in  cocoa  and 
bananas.  It  is  on  the  northern  coast,  near  Cape  Maisi. 

This  wonderful  island  lay  practically  dead  until  this  cent- 
ury.    In  1774  the  total  population  was  but  one  hundred  and 


362  HISTORY   OF   SPANISH   AMERICA 

seventy- two  thousand,  half  of  which  was  slaves.  The  plan 
tation  owners  were  few,  and  there  were  few  small  holders. 
The  French  immigrants,  who  introduced  coffee,  somewhat 
stimulated  the  movement  of  things,  and  this  was  carried  on 
for  a  while  by  the  surprising  conduct  of  Napoleon  in  Europe, 
which  led  people  to  think  that  anything  was  possible — even 
increase  of  personal  liberty  in  Spanish  colonies.  With  one 
thing  and  another,  the  Cuban  population  had  increased  by 
1811  to  some  six  hundred  thousand  persons  of  different  col- 
ors and  degrees  of  servitude;  and  for  a  dozen  years  the 
island  had  real  prosperity;  the  returns  from  coffee  aloiu/ 
were  twenty  million  dollars  per  annum.  The  population 
continued  to  increase,  but,  singular  to  say,  the  whites  out- 
numbered the  blacks;  until,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  late 
war,  out  of  an  estimated  population  of  sixteen  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand,  nine  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  were  white, 
and  only  half  a  million  negroes;  the  rest  were  Spaniards 
born  in  Spain.  The  negroes  were  little  better  off  than  when 
they  were  slaves ;  the  brown  people  occupied  a  position  be- 
tween the  negroes  and  the  Creoles  in  social  estimation ;  the 
Creoles  were  not  admitted  to  social  equality  with  the  Span- 
iards, but  had  an  exclusiveness  of  their  own,  and  a  certain 
local  patriotism. 

Although  trustworthy  statistics  do  not  exist,  owing  to 
the  negligence  of  the  Spanish  rulers,  it  is  estimated  with 
probable  reason  that  half  the  island  is  still  covered  with  for- 
est; and  that  out  of  the  thirty  million  cultivatable  acres, 
only  two  million  are  actually  employed  in  productive  agri- 
culture. The  possible  mining  resources  are  still  unknown, 
and  though  there  are  forty  known  varieties  of  valuable 
woods,  besides  many  that  are  unclassified,  their  utilization 
has  hardly  begun.  The  railway  system  is  only  rudimentary, 
and  other  means  of  travel  are  deficient  in  proportion.  In 
this  respect  Cuba  compares  badly  with  Jamaica,  which  has 
a  magnificent  system  of  roads  traversing  the  island  in  all 
directions,  and  kept  in  constant  repair  at  great  expense.  In 
short,  we  might  say  that  Cuba  has  been  hitherto  not  so  much 


THE   WEST   INDIES  363 

dead  as  unborn.  When  one  considers  that,  with  only  one- 
fifteenth  of  the  soil  under  cultivation,  the  agricultural  prod- 
uct of  the  year  1892  reached  the  total  of  one  billion  dollars' 
value,  we  may  form  a  conjecture  as  to  what  the  result  would 
be  if  all  the  available  soil  were  utilized,  and  were,  moreover, 
treated  with  scientific  knowledge  and  economy.  As  to  what 
the  mineral  returns  might  be,  we  have  no  data  for  making 
any  estimate  whatever. 

The  Creoles  are  upon  the  whole  an  intelligent  people,  and 
some  of  them  obtain  education  abroad;  their  intellectual 
calibre  compares  very  favorably  with  that  of  the  Spaniards. 
The  men  are  largely  free-thinkers,  though  the  women  are 
kept  in  unquestioning  submission  to  the  Church.  The  life 
of  the  white  peasants  is  very  primitive,  and  the  tendency  is 
to  adopt  the  habits  of  the  negroes.  They  have  no  spirit,  no 
principle,  and  no  brains.  Yet  it  is  not  beyond  the  bounds 
of  possibility  that,  under  proper  stimulation,  they  might 
finally  become  useful  members  of  the  community,  in  their 
own  lowly  sphere. 

"We  shall  trace  the  events  which  led  up  to  the  Cuban 
insurrections  in  a  later  chapter.  Of  Jamaica  there  is  not 
much  to  be  told  in  a  history  of  Spanish  America;  for  the 
Spaniards  occupied  the  island  only  from  1509  to  1655,  and 
did  little  there  worth  mentioning.  The  island  as  to  its  phys- 
ical features  resembles  Cuba;  but  has  minor  peculiarities 
of  its  own.  It  is  much  more  broken  up  by  mountains  and 
ravines;  insomuch  that  few  level  spaces  can  be  found 
throughout  its  extent.  Its  soil  is  fertile,  though  hardly 
equal  to  that  of  Cuba;  and  on  the  limestone  mountains, 
which  constitute  the  greater  part  of  the  area,  it  is  compara- 
tively thin.  On  the  northeast  coast,  on  the  uplands,  grows 
the  pimento  tree,  from  whose  berries  allspice  is  made;  the 
silk-cotton  tree  is  abundant,  there  are  many  species  of  palm ; 
and  mahogany  and  ebony,  and  other  woods  of  great  hard- 
ness, throng  the  forests,  many  of  which  are  still  virgin  and 
but  little  explored.  In  fact,  the  exceeding  difficulty  of  trav- 
ersing the  perpendicular  hills  and  headlong  gorges,  and  the 


364  HISTORY   OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

danger  involved  in  the  "sink-holes" — vertical  pits  or  cylin- 
drical cavities  in  the  limestone,  of  all  sizes  and  diameters, 
from  two  or  three  feet  to  a  hundred  or  more — make  travel 
in  the  forest  unusual;  and  there  is  probably  more  space  rela- 
tively in  Jamaica  which  has  never  been  trodden  by  human 
foot  than  in  any  of  the  other  islands.  The  sink-holes,  being 
wholly  hidden  by  the  dense  vegetation,  are  only  discovered 
when  the  explorer  is  about  to  plunge  into  them ;  and  doubt- 
less many  persons  have  perished  in  this  manner  whose  fate 
will  never  be  known.  Skeletons  of  animals,  tusks  of  wild 
boars,  and  similar  remains,  are  often  found  at  the  bottom 
of  these  holes,  telling  their  silent  story.  None  of  the  West 
Indian  islands  contains,  in  an  equal  space,  so  much  scenery 
of  entrancing  beauty  as  does  Jamaica;  and  the  atmospheric 
effects  are  equally  varied  and  fascinating.  The  climate  dur- 
ing the  greater  part  of  the  year  is  near  perfection,  if  it  does 
not  quite  attain  it.  The  same  products  that  characterize 
Cuba  can  be  grown  here,  though  of  course  the  available  area 
is  indefinitely  less ;  coffee  flourishes  on  the  mountain  sides ; 
there  are  numbers  of  sugar  plantations,  though  that  industry 
mostly  ceased  with  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  the  appear- 
ance of  beet  sugar.  Oranges  grow  wild  all  over  the  island, 
and  of  many  varieties;  certain  kinds  are  the  most  delicious 
of  all  oranges  known ;  but  no  attempt  has  ever  been  made 
to  classify  or  cultivate  them.  Mangoes  also  flourish  every- 
where, and  in  many  varieties;  they  are  a  staple  food  with 
the  negroes,  but  for  whites  the  taste  must  be  acquired.  The 
forests  are  filled  with  the  bread-fruit;  and  in  several  parts 
of  the  lower  lands  there  are  vast  plantations  of  bananas  and 
plantains;  but  the  trade  in  these  suffers  from  over-competi- 
tion. In  mineral  wealth  Jamaica  has  never  made  any  notable 
show ;  there  has  been  a  plentiful  lack  of  scientific  investiga- 
tion in  this  direction;  but  it  is  hardly  likely  that  anything 
of  much  value  would  reward  such  research.  In  any  case, 
there  is  greater  wealth  in  the  soil  than  under  it,  if  the  means 
be  taken  to  bring  it  forth. 

The  first  Spanish  colony  in  Jamaica  was  near  the  Bay  of 


THE   WEST   INDIES  365 

St.  Ann,  on  the  north  coast ;  it  was  named  Sevilla  del  Oro, 
and  was  founded  in  1509  by  Juan  d'Esquival.  Another  and 
more  important  settlement  was  that  of  Santiago  de  la  Vega, 
now  called  Spanish  Town,  on  the  south  coast,  twenty  miles 
east  of  Kingston.  Diego  Columbus  built  it  in  1525.  Two 
or  three  attacks  upon  the  island  were  made  by  the  English 
prior  to  Cromwell's  time,  but  no  permanent  foothold  was  ob- 
tained until  1655.  The  Spaniards  spread  themselves  sparsely 
over  the  island,  but  accomplished  little  beyond  exterminating 
the  native  population.  The  chief  crop  cultivated  was  cacao. 
As  we  have  seen,  the  resident  Spaniards  fled  to  Cuba  when 
the  British  took  possession,  and  the  slaves  became  "Maroons" 
hi  the  recesses  of  the  Blue  Peak  range,  in  the  eastern  end. 

Haiti  was  the  Hispaniola  of  the  Spaniards ;  it  is  next  in 
size  to  Cuba,  and  is  probably  quite  as  fertile,  and  might  be 
made  to  produce  almost  as  much  wealth.  It  is  the  most 
mountainous  of  the  Greater  Antilles ;  is  of  irregular  shape, 
contains  an  area  of  more  than  twenty-eight  thousand  square 
miles,  and  has  a  coast  line  of  fifteen  hundred  miles.  There 
are  several  good  harbors,  and  the  Bay  of  Samana  is  thirty 
miles  long  by  ten  wide;  a  number  of  small  islands  adjoin 
the  coast.  The  mountains  near  the  centre  of  the  island  reach 
a  height  of  nine  thousand  feet,  and  some  other  peaks  which 
have  never  been  explored  are  believed  to  be  a  thousand  feet 
higher  yet.  Magnificent  mountains  and  mountain  chains 
are  found  in  all  parts  of  the  island.  There  are  also  more 
important  rivers  in  Haiti  than  in  any  of  the  other  Antilles. 
The  substance  of  the  island  is  solid  rock,  through  which 
water  cannot  find  its  way,  as  it  does  through  the  limestone 
crust  of  Cuba  and  Jamaica.  There  are  numerous  superb 
valleys  through  which  great  streams  flow  to  the  sea;  the 
sands  of  the  River  Ozama  are  flecked  with  gold,  and  at  its 
mouth,  in  consequence,  the  eager  Spaniards  founded  the  city 
of  Santo  Domingo.  There  is  probably  much  gold  in  the 
country,  but  no  effort  has  been  made  to  discover  its  locality. 
There  are  no  regular  roads  in  the  country  even  to  this  day, 
and  the  negroes  have  for  the  most  part  lapsed  into  a  state 


3fi6  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

worse  than  primitive  savagery.  All  the  vegetable  products 
that  grow  in  Cuba  are  equally  susceptible  of  profitable  culti- 
vation here ;  but  nothing  has  been  done  in  the  way  of  sys- 
tematic farming.  The  range  of  temperature  between  the 
highlands  and  the  lowlands  is  greater  than  in  any  other  of 
the  islands,  but  the  climate  at  the  proper  elevation  is  deli- 
cious and  healthy.  Earthquakes  have  been  not  uncommon, 
but  there  has  been  no  volcanic  upheaval  within  historic 
times ;  and  the  hurricanes  lose  their  power  before  they  reach 
Haiti.  In  the  early  days  of  the  discovery,  Ovando  founded 
the  town  of  Salva  Tierra  near  where  Aux  Cayes  now  stands; 
but  Santo  Domingo  was  the  chief  settlement,  and  most  of 
the  other  Spanish  towns  were  not  far  distant  from  it.  Santo 
Domingo  was  captured  by  Drake,  in  1585,  and  suffered  other 
disturbances ;  and  the  French  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  foot- 
hold at  Petit  Goave  on  the  north  side  of  the  southern  penin- 
sula at  the  western  end  of  the  island.  They  established 
plantations,  traded  with  the  buccaneers,  and  by  means  of 
the  simple  expedient  of  importing  women  slaves  along  with 
the  men,  succeeded  hi  replenishing  their  stock  without  con- 
stant new  importations.  They  raised  the  ordinary  crops, 
and  defended  their  settlement  by  building  a  fort  which  they 
called  Port  au  Prince.  So  firmly  were  they  established  that 
at  the  Peace  of  Ryswick,  Spain  was  obliged  to  concede  to 
them  the  right  to  remain.  This  colony  took  the  name  of  St. 
Dominique.  When  the  blacks  got  their  independence,  they 
called  the  Spanish  part  of  the  island  Haiti,  while  the  French 
part  received  the  appellation  of  Santo  Domingo.  But  in  the 
popular  mind,  there  is  small  distinction  between  the  two; 
they  are  both  a  fantastic  parody  on  popular  government. 
The  boundary  between  the  two  is  still  indeterminate;  but 
the  French  colony  was  the  more  successful,  and  soon  became 
the  more  populous.  The  black  revolution  was  precipitated 
by  that  of  the  French.  The  white  citizens  were  ready  for 
Liberty,  Equality  and  Fraternity;  but  they  of  course  had 
no  idea  of  including  the  negroes  in  that  arrangement.  The 
French  Assembly  in  Paris,  however,  being  lavish  with  the- 


THE    WEST    INDIES  367 

ory,  decreed  that  all  persons  of  color  born  of  free  parents 
should  be  admitted  to  the  rights  of  French  citizenship. 
Hereupon  trouble  began,  and  not  only  the  children  of  free 
negroes,  but  the  slaves  themselves,  assumed  a  menacing  at- 
titude. The  Assembly  now  made  matters  worse  by  revok- 
ing their  decree.  Commissioners  came  but  could  effect  noth- 
ing; and  the  Spaniards  attacked  Santo  Domingo  from  the 
land  side,  while  the  English  assailed  it  from  the  sea.  In 
August  of  this  year  (1793)  one  of  the  commissioners  got 
upon  a  stump  and  declared,  out  of  the  fulness  of  his  own 
heart  and  the  emptiness  of  his  head,  that  everybody  was 
free  without  distinction.  Then  arose  Frangois  Dominique 
Toussaint,  called  Toussaint  L'Ouverture,  a  full-blooded  Af- 
rican, but  a  man  of  parts.  His  father  had  been  a  prince  in 
his  native  country,  and  Toussaint  was  a  natural  leader  of 
men.  Under  his  command  the  native  forces  ran  the  Spanish 
and  English  out  of  the  country ;  France  recognized  his  rank, 
and  in  1795  he  became  dictator.  He  showed  that  he  could 
rule  in  peace  as  well  as  hi  war;  a  constitution  was  made 
after  his  suggestions,  free  trade  was  established,  and  he  was 
chosen  president  for  life.  Still,  the  new  state  was  nominally 
at  least  in  subjection  to  France.  Unfortunately  for  poor 
Toussaint,  Napoleon  came  into  power  at  this  time,  and  he 
objected  to  having  an  ex-slave  assuming  dictatorial  airs 
within  his  dominions,  no  matter  how  vehemently  he  might 
protest  that  he  was  only  governing  under  the  wing  of 
France.  He  sent  an  army  of  thirty  thousand  men  to  co- 
erce the  black  champion;  the  commander  of  the  force, 
Leclerc,  attempted  at  first  to  get  hold  of  the  dictator  by 
stratagem,  but  he  would  not  be  limed.  "War  then  began; 
but  the  French  fought  at  a  disadvantage,  and  were  besides 
threatened  by  yellow  fever.  Leclerc  finally  succeeded  in 
getting  his  hands  upon  Toussaint  by  means  of  deceptive 
representations;  though  there  is  little  doubt  that  Toussaint 
would  not  have  delivered  himself  up  had  he  not  felt  that  he 
was  beaten,  and  hoped  to  placate  his  conqueror  by  submit- 
ting betimes.  This  was  in  1802.  He  was  taken  to  France 


368  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

in  July  of  the  same  year  on  a  charge  of  conspiracy,  and  was 
kept  in  prison  until  his  death  about  nine  months  later. 
Meanwhile  Leclerc  stayed  in  the  island  and  ruled  it  with 
an  iron  and  a  bloody  hand;  but  the  revolt  could  not  be 
quenched,  and  new  leaders  arose  to  take  Toussaint's  place. 
Bloodhounds  were  sent  over  to  help  the  French;  but  the 
negroes  had  a  far  more  terrible  ally  in  the  shape  of  yellow 
fever  and  other  diseases;  and  the  French  soldiers  were  at 
last  cornered  in  Cape  Haitien,  reduced  to  extremities,  and 
filially  forced  to  surrender.  This  victory  ended  French 
power  in  the  island.  Dessalines,  one  of  the  negro  gen- 
erals, was  chosen  president;  he  promptly  made  himself 
emperor,  ordered  the  murder  of  every  Frenchman  on  the 
island,  and  in  general  conducted  himself  in  so  savage  a 
manner  that  he  was  in  turn  murdered  by  his  own  retinue. 
He  was  succeeded  by  rivals,  little  if  at  all  better  than  him- 
self, and  all  wishing  to  be  kings.  Finally,  in  1820,  Boyer 
became  president  of  the  whole  island,  and  was  acknowl- 
edged by  France  upon  promising  to  pay  ninety  thousand 
francs  indemnity  for  property  destroyed.  As  might  have 
been  expected,  the  money  was  a  long  time  in  getting  paid. 
For  twenty- two  years  after  1822  the  two  republics  of  Haiti 
and  Santo  Domingo  were  under  one  ruler;  after  which  the 
separation  of  the  latter  was  decreed,  and  has  been  ever  since 
maintained.  The  subsequent  history  of  the  two  states  has 
been  a  more  or  less  revolting  tale  of  despotism,  murder, 
brutal  ignorance,  grotesque  pretensions,  and  general  chaos; 
one  hideous  and  absurd  figure  after  another  rising  to  power, 
and  being  again  hurled  down  to  destruction.  It  is  hardly 
worth  while  to  examine  the  "constitution"  of  a  country  like 
this.  Whatever  laws  are  good,  are  not  enforced;  each  so- 
called  president  is  in  fact  a  murderous  despot,  and  the  entire 
administration  is  corrupt.  All  the  inhabitants  of  Haiti  are 
black,  or  nearly  so ;  no  white  man  is  allowed  to  own  prop- 
erty in  the  island.  The  religion  is  a  ghastly  mixture  of 
Voudooism  and  cannibalism;  infants  are  cut  to  pieces  on 
the  altars  and  devoured  with  frightful  rites,  and  the  pagan 


THE    WEST   INDIES  369 

orgies  which  take  place  would  be  incredible,  were  they  not 
too  well  attested.  Sexual  virtue  and  social  and  commercial 
honor  do  not  exist  in  the  community ;  the  towns  are  shabby 
and  ruinous,  the  roads  practically  non-existent,  and  the 
finances  ridiculous.  Amid  the  prevailing  squalor  and  filth- 
iness  we  see  ape-like  creatures  stalking  about  in  tawdry 
finery,  and  rejoicing  in  far-resounding  titles  of  honor. 

Of  the  two  republics,  Santo  Domingo  is  by  far  the  more 
respectable — or  perhaps  we  should  say,  the  less  scandalous. 
Here  there  are  several  thousand  inhabitants  of  pure  Spanish 
blood,  and  numerous  quadroons  and  other  half-breeds.  The 
Catholic  religion  still  retains  a  hold  upon  the  inhabitants, 
and  voudooism  is  proportionally  less  rampant.  Upon  the 
whole,  Santo  Domingo  is  superior  to  Haiti  precisely  in  meas- 
ure as  its  inhabitants  are  of  white  blood,  or  of  mixed  descent. 
The  moral  of  the  story  is  plain.  Negroes  are  incapable  of 
self -government ;  and  any  attempt  to  give  it  to  them,  so  far 
from  tending  to  raise  them  in  the  scale  of  civilization,  surely 
results  in  degrading  them  far  below  the  level  of  native  Afri- 
can savagery.  This  lesson  should  not  be  lost  upon  our  gen- 
eration ;  in  more  ways  than  one  we  are  approaching  a  period 
when  we  shall  be  forced  to  take  decisive  action  upon  it. 

A  few  years  ago  no  one  would  have  supposed  that  Amer- 
icans would  ever  feel  much  interest  in  Porto  Rico;  but  the 
results  of  our  war  with  Spain  have  brought  the  island  vio- 
lently into  the  foreground.  It  is  to  be  the  future  home  of 
many  of  us,  and  the  basis  of  the  commercial  interests  of 
many  more;  and  whatever  information  is  to  be  had  con- 
cerning it,  is  pertinent.  But  inasmuch  as  it  has  been  from 
the  first  an  almost  undisturbed  Spanish  possession,  there 
is  not  as  yet  much  to  tell  about  it. 

The  island  stands  in  the  path  which  leads  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Isthmus,  with  deep  water  on  all  sides  of 
it.  The  Mona  Passage,  between  it  and  the  eastern  extrem- 
ity of  Santo  Domingo,  is  that  through  which  commerce 
would  naturally  proceed.  Its  strategic  value  is  therefore 
obvious.  It  is  of  an  oblong  figure,  forty  miles  wide  and  a 


370  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

hundred  miles  in  length,  diminishing  in  breadth  toward  the 
east,  and  ending  there  in  a  blunt  promontory.      The  bays 
or  inlets  are  few.     A  few  miles  off  the  eastern  end  lies  Crab 
Island,  appertaining  to  Porto  Rico,  about  seventeen  miles  by 
five  in  dimensions ;  and  the  islet  of  La  Culebra  lies  due  north 
of  Crab.     Tiny  islets  of  no  importance  are  distributed  in  the 
vicinity.     The  area  of  Porto  Rico  is  rather  less  than  that  of 
Jamaica,  but  much  more  of  the  space  is  available  for  habi- 
tation and  cultivation.     A  low  mountain  chain  traverses  it 
from  east  to  west,  with  spurs  running  northward  from  it; 
its  height  is  about  fifteen  hundred  feet  only.     The  Sierra  de 
Luquillo  in  the  northeast  has  at  its  culmination  an  altitude 
about  two  thousand  feet  higher  than  this.    The  hills  are  cov- 
ered with  soil,  and  nowhere  save  in  the  peak  of  El  Yunque 
does  the  rocky  substratum  appear  through  the  surface.     In 
this  respect  the  formation  is  entirely  unlike  the  other  Greater 
Antilles.      Forests  clothe  the  hills,  and  there  is  a  layer  of 
limestone,  sometimes  hollowed  out  in  caves,  over  the  lower 
rock.     Many  rivers  flow  through  the  land,  some  of  which 
are  of  considerable  size ;  most  of  them  run  north  or  south. 
The  largest  are  the  Arecibo  and  the  Cayagua.     The  rainfall 
on  the  north  side  of  the  island  is  heavy,  owing  to  its  direct 
exposure  to  the  trades;  whereas,  in  the  south,  irrigation  has 
occasionally  to  be  practiced.     The  chief  northern  ports  are 
Arecibo  and  San  Juan  de  Porto  Rico;  on  the  west  coast 
are    Mayaguez   and   Aguadilla;    Guanica,    Guayanilla,   La 
Playa  and  Arroyo  are   on  the  south,   and  Humacao  and 
Fajardo  on  the  east. 

Hardly  any  mining  has  been  done  in  the  island,  which 
has  always  been  an  agricultural  region ;  but  precious  metals 
are  known  to  exist  under  the  surface,  and  gold,  copper  and 
iron  have  been  produced  in  small  quantities.  Lignite  and 
limestone  are  also  found.  The  forests  afford  the  usual  tim- 
ber peculiar  to  the  West  Indies,  and  there  is  also  a  tree  called 
Sabino,  which  is  said  to  be  a  special  product  of  the  island. 
Fruits  and  plants  of  all  kinds  grow  in  rich  profusion,  owing 
to  the  favorable  surface,  and  there  are  innumerable  ferns, 


THE    WEST    INDIES  371 

some  of  large  size,  which  add  to  the  prevalent  and  remark- 
able greenness  of  the  landscape.  Birds,  insects,  and  snakes 
are  few,  and  of  quadrupeds  only  the  armadillo  and  the 
agouti  are  indigenous.  The  products  of  the  island  are  to- 
bacco, maize,  cotton,  cacao,  yams,  plantains  and  bananas, 
oranges,  coffee  and  sugar.  The  summer  climate  is  warm 
and  moist,  and  August  and  September  are  relaxing,  and 
there  are  occasional  thunderstorms  of  appalling  fury,  and 
more  rarely  hurricanes.  Upon  the  whole  the  climate  is  sa- 
lubrious, and  with  proper  drainage  in  low  and  wet  districts, 
there  should  be  almost  entire  freedom  from  diseases. 

When  Columbus  discovered  the  island  in  1493,  he  dis- 
carded the  native  name  of  Borinquen  and  substituted  that 
of  San  Juan  Bautista ;  the  population  at  that  tune  was  peace- 
able and  numerous.  There  was  serenity  for  fifteen  years 
after  this,  for  no  more  Spaniards  appeared  during  that  time; 
but  in  1510  Ponce  de  Leon,  under  the  persuasion  that  gold 
was  to  be  had  there,  came  over  from  Hispaniola  and  took 
possession.  He  founded  the  city  on  the  north  coast  toward 
the  east  which  he  called  San  Juan  Bautista  de  Porto  Rico; 
it  stood  within  the  largest  and  best  harbor  of  the  island,  and 
has  remained  its  capital  ever  since.  Porto  Rico  came  in  time 
to  be  the  name  applied  to  the  entire  island.  Ponce  de  Leon 
adopted  the  repartimiento  system  in  apportioning  the  island 
to  his  followers,  and  it  resulted  as  usual  in  the  extermination 
of  the  natives,  who  offered  a  passive  resistance  to  slavery. 
The  Caribs  were  the  only  ones  who  attempted  resistance; 
and  Ponce  on  his  side  attempted  to  clear  them  out  of  the 
Lesser  Antilles ;  with  disastrous  results.  He  soon  afterward 
set  out  through  the  Bahamas  and  Florida  on  his  search  for 
the  Fountain  of  Youth,  and  was  miserably  slain  by  the 
arrows  of  the  Indians.  Meanwhile,  and  for  a  long  time 
afterward,  Porto  Rico  made  small  progress ;  being  attacked 
by  Caribs,  Dutch,  French  and  English  at  different  times; 
and  San  Juan  was  sacked  by  Drake  in  1595.  Nevertheless, 
the  Spanish  held  on  to  the  island;  but  they  made  no  effort 
to  develop  the  ulterior  resources.  As  late  as  1765  there  were 


372  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

less  than  fifty  thousand  inhabitants  on  the  island;  and  it 
would  doubtless  have  been  captured  from  Spain  by  some 
one  of  her  many  enemies,  had  any  one  suspected  how  valu- 
able it  really  was.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  cent- 
ury, Spain  sent  out  slaves  and  Spanish  peasantry  to  occupy 
the  land,  and  the  little  place  began  a  season  of  prosperity. 
Here,  as  in  Cuba,  the  whites  exceeded  the  blacks  in  number; 
and  when  the  revolutions  on  the  main  occurred,  many  per- 
sons spontaneously  sought  Porto  Rico  for  peace  and  quiet. 
The  island  presently  grew  to  be  the  most  populous  of  the 
group  in  proportion  to  its  size;  the  latest  estimate  making 
the  population  about  nine  hundred  thousand,  of  whom  two- 
thirds  were  white,  and  of  the  remainder  there  were  more 
mulattoes  than  blacks. 

The  harbor  of  San  Juan  is  entered  by  a  winding  channel, 
and  is  roomy  and  deep  within ;  tall  hills  are  visible  in  the 
background,  but  the  immediate  coast  is  low.  The  Morro 
and  other  fortifications  are  so  close  to  the  city,  that  the 
latter  is  exposed  to  attacks  by  modern  long-range  guns. 
The  town  is  compact  and  crowded,  being  built  on  the  island 
at  the  east  side  of  the  channel ;  the  houses  are  of  the  usual 
stuccoed,  two-story  kind;  the  ground  story  being  occupied 
by  negroes  and  other  poor  folks,  the  upper  by  "society  peo- 
ple." Rain  furnishes  the  only  water  supply,  and  there  is 
only  surface  drainage;  in  consequence  of  which  the  town 
is  dirty  and  unwholesome.  The  Marina,  with  its  commer- 
cial buildings,  lies  below  the  town  on  the  bay,  and  there  is  a 
small  suburb,  Puerta  de  Tierra,  on  the  main  road  inland. 

Arecibo  stands  some  distance  inland,  on  a  shallow  river; 
it  serves  as  port  for  the  fertile  region  to  the  south.  Agua- 
dilla  is  on  the  other  side  of  the  cape  Ahujerada,  on  the  west 
end  of  the  island ;  it  ships  sugar  and  coffee.  South  of  it  is 
Mayaguez,  also  some  way  back  from  the  actual  coast,  but 
it  has  a  considerable  export  trade  in  oranges  and  other  fruits. 
Guanica  is  in  a  marshy  district  on  the  south  coast ;  but  the 
harbor  is  a  good  one,  and  it  is  the  port  of  a  productive  region. 
Ponce  is  a  town  of  some  pretension,  and  the  largest  in  the 


THE    WEST    INDIES  373 

island;  it  has  handsome  houses,  mineral  springs,  and  baths 
at  Coamo.  East  of  it  is  Guayama,  near  the  port  of  Arroyo ; 
further  east,  the  island  is  sparsely  populated ;  and  the  towns 
stand  back  from  the  coast,  there  being  no  harbors  and  con- 
stant winds.  There  are  salt  marshes  along  the  south  coast, 
where  salt  is  prepared  for  the  market.  The  interior  towns 
of  the  country  are  of  importance  only  as  repositories  for 
produce  destined  for  the  ports. 

Porto  Rico  never  was  a  place  of  large  plantations ;  the 
holdings  were  small  and  numerous,  and  the  proportion  of 
peasant  proprietors  was  large.  The  slaves  were  relatively 
few  and  well  treated,  and  after  emancipation  lived  comfort- 
ably with  the  whites.  Until  "the  beginning  of  this  century 
there  were  hardly  any  large  settlements,  and  the  population, 
scattered  about  the  surface  of  the  island,  seldom  saw  one 
another  except  on  days  of  religious  festival.  Even  to-day, 
most  of  the  inhabitants  are  country  people,  living  along  the 
valleys,  and  cultivating  their  fields  by  the  methods  of  a  by- 
gone age.  Modern  farming  tools  are  unknown;  but  such 
is  the  fine  quality  of  the  soil,  that  with  proper  management 
tobacco  equal  to  the  best  Cuban  kinds  could  be  raised;  and 
it  is  said  that  more  sugar  could  be  produced  to  the  acre  than 
in  any  of  the  other  islands.  The  lower  levels  are  given  up 
to  sugar  cultivation,  with  tobacco  on  higher  ground  inland, 
and  coffee  on  the  slopes  of  the  hills.  The  means  of  transpor- 
tation are  deficient;  much  of  the  carrying  is  done  in  baskets 
on  the  heads  of  the  women  and  men.  There  is  only  one 
good  road,  connecting  San  Juan  with  Ponce,  a  distance  of 
eighty  miles.  In  other  places,  such  roads  as  there  are  get 
washed  out  in  the  rains,  or  choked  up  by  the  tropic  vege- 
tation, which  is  like  a  living  wild  creature,  pushing  in 
wherever  it  is  not  kept  constantly  in  check. 

The  population  is  upon  the  whole  of  a  low  order,  though 
some  of  the  Creoles  are  fairly  well  educated;  but  the  peas- 
antry and  the  negroes  are  wholly  illiterate.  The  latter  live 
on  their  holdings,  and  their  needs  are  so  primitive  that  they 
buy  little  in  the  markets.  Meat  is  seldom  eaten  by  them ; 


3?4  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

they  subsist  and  thrive  on  fruit  and  vegetables.  To  civilize 
such  people  will  not  be  easy ;  they  are  spiritless  and  unenter- 
prising; artificial  wants  will  have  to  be  created  for  them, 
and  even  then  they  will  be  slow  to  take  any  personal  trouble 
to  fulfil  them.  If  there  were  not  so  many  of  them,  they 
would  readily  be  absorbed  and  disappear  in  the  more  active 
and  intelligent  population  which  is  now  likely  to  immigrate 
to  Porto  Rico;  but  as  it  is,  there  will  be  difficulties.  Inertia 
is  even  more  embarrassing  to  deal  with  than  active  hostility. 
After  making  all  due  deductions,  however,  Porto  Rico  is  a 
possession  well  worth  having,  and  must  grow  more  valuable 
every  year. 


PART    III 


WE  have  already  remarked  that  it  was  the  overturn 
of  established  ideas  and  institutions  in  Europe, 
and  especially  in  France,  that  gave  the  impulse 
to  change  in  Spanish  America.  The  success  of  the  North 
American  Revolution  had  left  the  Spanish  colonies  appar- 
ently unmoved,  although  certain  individuals  among  the 
people  had  been  thereby  induced  to  consider  the  possibility 
of  improving  the  condition  of  their  country.  But  the  French 
Revolution  had  results  which  practically  compelled  the  colo- 
nies to  action ;  it  was  not  so  much  a  question  of  choice  as  of 
necessity.  The  people  did  not  rush  into  revolution;  they 
were  driven  into  it,  and  for  a  time  they  would  not  regard 
themselves  as  enemies  of  the  mother  country.  But  when 
they  were  once  embarked  in  the  business,  they  fought  with 
fury,  and  hatred  of  the  bitterest  sort  replaced  their  original 
loyalty.  They  had  witnessed  the  cruel  murder  of  Tupac 
Amaru,  and  the  fruitless  agitations  of  Miranda,  and  had 
seemed  to  acquiesce  in  the  result.  But  these  things  had  no 
doubt  sown  seeds  of  actions  which  were  as  yet  hidden  from 
themselves.  "When  at  last  the  time  to  fight  came,  they  be- 
came conscious  that  there  had  long  been  latent  in  their  minds 
a  preconception  of  the  issue.  Let  us  once  more  glance  at  the 
causes  which  led  up  to  the  crisis. 

After  the  French  Revolution  and  the  Reign  of  Terror, 
there  ensued  a  period  of  reaction;  and  conservatives  hoped 
that  all  the  old  order,  with  its  abuses,  might  return  once 
more,  and  continue  as  if  nothing  had  happened.  This,  of 

(375) 


376  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

course,  was  absurd;  but  it  is  certain  that  France  sbowed 
signs  of  repentance,  and  the  desperation  which  had  urged 
on  the  people  to  their  bloody  excesses,  dying  away,  left  a 
tendency  to  retract  and  compromise.  It  was  at  that  epoch 
that  the  character  of  Napoleon  proved  to  be  decisive.  He 
had  shown  himself  an  unexampled  soldier,  and  he  had  come 
to  be  regarded,  both  in  himself,  and  as  the  favorite  leader  of 
the  army,  as  the  commanding  figure  of  the  time.  The  civic 
chiefs  feared  him,  and  also  thought  that  he  alone  had  the 
strength  to  restore  and  maintain  order.  He  was  elected 
consul,  and  was  not  long  in  making  himself  emperor.  Eu- 
rope was  at  his  feet,  with  the  exception  of  still  unconquered 
England;  and  he  had  made  his  arrangements  to  subjugate 
her  likewise.  His  far-reaching  plans  had  not  forgotten  the 
Americas;  Spain  could  not  resist  him,  and  he  designed 
through  her  to  gain  control  of  her  colonies. 

Portugal  happened  at  that  juncture  to  have  formed  an 
alliance  with  the  one  power  that  Napoleon  had  cause  to  fear, 
and  which  he  chiefly  hated — England.  To  his  profound 
intelligence  a  plan  immediately  presented  itself  whereby  he 
might  turn  Portugal's  opposition  into  a  means  of  arriving 
at  the  realization  of  more  schemes  than  one.  Portugal  lay 
on  the  further  side  of  Spain;  in  order  to  reach  it  by  land,  he 
must  lead  his  army  across  Spain.  The  subjugation  of  Port- 
ugal was  a  trifling  matter ;  it  might  have  waited,  or  it  might 
have  been  foregone  altogether.  But  the  complete  control 
of  Spain  was  of  importance,  and  Napoleon  used  his  supposed 
designs  on  Portugal  as  a  pretext  for  getting  his  hands  on 
Spain's  throat  without  a  struggle.  All  he  had  to  do  was 
to  request  permission  to  bring  his  army  across  the  country, 
in  order  to  attack  Portugal;  and  then,  upon  arriving  at 
Madrid,  he  would  have  the  Spanish  king  in  his  power,  and 
could  make  him  do  his  bidding.  This  stratagem  was  no 
sooner  conceived  than  it  was  acted  upon.  Manuel  Godoi 
was  the  favorite  of  the  queen  Maria  Louisa,  who  had  raised 
him  up  from  an  obscure  officer  of  the  guards  to  the  most 
influential  position  in  the  kingdom.  Godoi  was  no  friend 


THE    REVOLT    AGAINST   SPAIN  377 

to  the  Spanish  people,  nor  did  they  love  him ;  but  he  was  the 
man  for  Napoleon's  purpose.  The  latter  had  no  difficulty 
in  obtaining  from  him  the  safe-conduct  that  he  required; 
and  early  in  1808  the  French  army  was  in  Madrid.  Spain 
was  at  this  time  in  a  state  of  apparently  hopeless  disorganiza- 
tion. Queen  Maria  Louisa  was  acting  as  ruler  for  her  imbe- 
cile husband  Charles  IV.,  through  her  creature  Godoi,  and 
there  were  parties  in  the  country  for  and  against  her.  Napo- 
leon fancied  that  this  internal  dissension  was  his  opportunity ; 
he  had  decided  to  make  his  elder  brother  Joseph  king ;  Charles 
was  forced  to  abdicate,  and  his  son  Ferdinand  was  preparing 
to  succeed  him,  when  Joseph  was  put  forward.  But  Napo- 
leon had  not  calculated  upon  the  aversion  of  the  Spanish 
people,  of  whatever  party,  to  any  such  manufactured  sover- 
eign as  Joseph ;  they  resented  the  expulsion  of  the  Bourbons 
to  a  man.  There  was  an  English  army  in  Spain  at  this 
time,  for  England  was  ready  to  assist  that  country  against 
the  common  enemy;  but  Napoleon  sent  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  men,  and  though  Soult  was  worsted  in  the 
battle  of  Corunna,  on  January  16,  1809,  Sir  John  Moore  was 
killed  and  the  English  were  compelled  to  retreat.  English 
reinforcements,  however,  were  already  on  their  way  to  Lis- 
bon, with  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley  in  command,  and  English 
money  had  been  sent  to  induce  Austria  to  make  a  diversion 
on  the  Danube.  This  compelled  Napoleon  to  withdraw  his 
best  troops  from  Spain,  to  fight  and  win  the  battle  of  Wag- 
ram  ;  but  meanwhile  the  English  were  defeating  the  remnant 
of  the  French  army  in  the  Peninsula.  Charles  IV.,  after  ab- 
dicating, had  intimated  a  wish  to  reconsider  his  act;  but  to 
this  Ferdinand,  who  was  his  mortal  enemy,  would  not  con- 
sent, and  popular  opinion  supported  him.  Ferdinand  himself 
however  was  powerless,  and  was  interned  in  France.  Joseph 
was  on  the  throne,  though  he  had  no  liking  for  it.  Had  the 
Spanish  colonists  but  known  it,  he  might  have  proved  their 
best  friend,  for  he  was  a  democrat  at  heart,  and  opposed 
to  all  oppression.  But  the  colonists  never  stopped  to  think 
of  that;  they  were  fired  with  loyalty  and  patriotism;  and  in 


378  HISTORY   OF   SPANISH   AMERICA 

spite  of  the  cruel  wrongs  which  they  had  suffered  from  the 
House  of  Bourbon,  they  would  hear  of  no  king  but  Ferdi- 
nand. He  was  the  anointed  sovereign;  he  was  monarch 
by  right  Divine.  There  is  something  quite  pathetic  in  this 
attitude;  it  is  another  indication  of  the  lamentable  state  of 
ignorance  and  superstition  in  which  the  colonists  were  sunk. 
The  House  of  Bourbon  had  never  shown  any  consideration 
for  them ;  on  the  contrary  it  had  murdered,  robbed  and  mal- 
treated them  from  the  outset;  had  denied  all  their  humble 
entreaties  for  mercy,  and  a  chance  to  breathe  and  live;  had 
kept  them  from  all  voice  in  the  management  of  their  own 
affairs;  had  imposed  upon  them  an  insolent  and  cruel  body 
of  office-holders  who  had  no  sympathy  with  them ;  had  para- 
lyzed the  development  of  their  country  by  iniquitous  regula- 
tions of  commerce,  trade  and  industry ;  had  forbidden  them 
to  profit  by  their  own  crops,  or  to  even  raise  certain  crops 
which  might  interfere  with  monopolies  elsewhere ;  had  taxed 
them  to  death,  and  in  every  way  outraged  and  rebuffed  them. 
And  Ferdinand,  the  present  representative  of  this  evil  House, 
was  one  of  the  most  vicious,  selfish  and  hidebound  members 
of  it;  he  did  not  even  possess  courage,  but  cowered  and 
whined  under  Napoleon's  eye,  and  dared  make  no  attempt 
to  grasp  the  power  which  legally  was  accorded  to  him.  Such 
was  the  creature  whom  the  American  colonists,  of  all  people 
in  the  world,  extolled  and  worshipped,  and  preferred  to  hon- 
est Joseph  Bonaparte.  It  is  a  pitiful  and  humiliating  spec- 
tacle, and  it  carried  its  own  penalty. 

But  the  phantom  of  a  regency  was  raised  up,  and  Fer- 
dinand, the  object  of  this  purblind  loyalty,  was  a  prisoner. 
What  was  to  be  done?  How  could  the  colonists  be  faithful 
to  a  king  who  did  not  reign?  That  made  no  difference :  they 
would  wait  until  he  came  to  his  own  again.  But  meanwhile 
how  would  they  be  governed? — by  the  regency? — No:  for 
they  doubted  the  good  faith  of  the  regency ;  for  aught  they 
knew,  it  might  be  secretly  in  league  with  the  treacherous 
French.  The  French  continued  to  occupy  Spain  with  their 
army;  and  though  the  soldiers  of  the  regency  had  fought 


THE    REVOLT   AGAINST    SPAIN  379 

with  this  army,  they  had  been  defeated,  and  it  was  possible 
that  they  were  being  sacrificed  for  hidden  ends.  The  colo- 
nists, therefore,  would  submit  neither  to  Joseph  nor  to  the 
regency,  or  juntas ;  and  all  that  was  left  for  them  to  do  was 
to  elect  juntas  of  their  own,  to  rule  while  Ferdinand  was  in 
abeyance.  And  such  juntas,  being  elected  by  the  people, 
and  of  them,  would  introduce  the  reforms  for  which  the 
country  had  so  long  been  groaning.  There  was  no  thought 
or  even  wish  for  independence. 

This  arrangement  was  then  natural  and  indeed  inevita- 
ble; but  it  encountered  a  stubborn  obstacle.  The  country 
was  full  of  Spanish  office-holders,  who  clearly  perceived  that 
a  junta  government  would  mean  their  dismissal,  and  the 
consequent  stoppage  of  their  system  of  highway  robbery. 
They  represented  to  the  juntas  in  Spain  that  the  colonies 
were  guilty  of  infidelity.  Anything  would  be  better,  in  their 
opinion,  than  to  allow  the  thin  edge  of  the  wedge  of  reform 
to  be  inserted.  The  spoils  were  too  rich  to  be  surrendered 
without  a  life-and-death  struggle.  Here  were  thousands 
of  Indians  being  held  to  labor  in  the  mines,  under  circum- 
stances of  horrible  inhumanity,  but  profitably  from  a  finan- 
cial point  of  view :  were  they  to  be  set  free?  Was  the  right 
of  cultivating  grapes,  tobacco,  and  olives  to  be  surrendered 
to  the  people?  Were  the  huge  duties  levied  upon  manufac- 
tured goods  to  be  lightened,  and  the  importation  of  them 
taken  away  from  the  Cadiz  merchants  who  now  controlled 
it?  Were  the  revenues  of  the  colony  to  be  handled  in  a  man- 
nsr  which  would  prevent  every  thieving  official  from  sticking 
his  fingers  into  them?  Was  the  tithes  system  to  be  abolished? 
— These  tithes  were  supposed  to  be  distributed  in  fourths, 
one  each  to  archbishops  and  bishops,  to  deacons  and  canons, 
to  curates,  and  to  church-building  funds;  but  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  much  of  them  went  into  the  king's  pocket,  and  the  rest 
were  farmed  out  to  various  persons,  all  of  whom  took  toll 
from  them : — was  this  agreeable  arrangement  to  be  put  an 
end  to?  And  were  the  vast  grants  of  territory  made  by  the 
Spanish  government  to  favorites,  thereby  placing  the  whole 
—  17 


380  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

country  under  the  control  of  a  few  rich  and  ruthless  men — 
were  these  to  be  discontinued,  or  revoked?  Not  if  the  Span- 
ish office-holders  could  prevent  it! 

Spain  herself,  however,  could  at  the  moment  do  little  to 
help  her  royalists  in  America,  by  reason  of  her  feebleness 
and  degradation  at  home.  The  "Council  of  the  Indies"  had 
transferred  the  Spanish  provinces  to  Napoleon,  who  had,  in 
May,  1810,  dispersed  the  central  junta  in  Spain.  Rather  than 
submit  to  the  requirements  of  the  colonists,  the  Spanish  office- 
holders would  have  given  their  fealty  to  the  Corsican.  But 
the  colonists'  movement  was  widespread;  the  causes  of  it 
were  the  same,  from  Mexico  to  Chili.  We  have  to  multiply 
many-fold  the  aggravation  occasioned  in  our  North  Ameri- 
can colonies  by  King  George's  Stamp  Act,  in  order  to  appre- 
ciate what  these  Spanish  Americans  had  endured.  And  yet 
redress  of  intolerable  grievances  was  all  they  asked.  Their 
juntas  acknowledged  Ferdinand  as  king,  and  in  opposing  the 
rule  of  the  Spanish  juntas,  they  did  not  oppose  the  royal 
authority,  whenever  it  should  be  exercised.  Let  it  be  per- 
mitted them  to  cultivate  what  their  soil  would  bring  forth, 
to  open  their  ports  to  the  commerce  of  all  nations,  to  enjoy 
free  trade  among  themselves  and  with  Spain,  to  suppress 
monopolies  in  favor  of  the  king  and  the  public  treasuries, 
to  be  allowed  to  work  their  own  quicksilver  mines,  to  be 
eligible  equally  with  Spaniards  to  offices  of  rank  and  employ- 
ment : — such  were  their  very  moderate  requests.  Moderate 
or  not,  they  were  regarded  by  the  Spanish  authorities  (or 
what  then  passed  for  such)  as  monstrous  and  rebellious. 
Nor  were  these  authorities  mollified  by  the  fact  that  the 
colonies  had  freely  impoverished  themselves  in  order  to  give 
help  in  the  war  against  France.  They  were  intent  upon  reve- 
nue only,  and  anything  that  interfered  with  that  was  treason. 

The  struggle  began  in  1809;  for  the  attempt  of  Ubalde 
in  Peru,  in  1805,  had  had  as  untoward  a  fate  as  that  of 
Tupac  Amaru  in  the  previous  century.  But  in  April,  1809, 
a  junta  was  formed  in  Caracas,  Venezuela,  and  this  example 
was  followed  in  July  of  the  same  year  in  Peru;  at  Quito 


THE    REVOLT    AGAINST    SPAIN  381 

in  August.  Santa  Fe  and  Buenos  Ayres  followed  in  May  of 
the  next  year,  Santiago  de  Chili  in  September,  1810,  and 
Mexico  about  the  same  time.  It  was  only  after  the  first 
fighting  had  taken  place  that  the  smaller  states  of  Central 
America  took  up  arms,  and  nearly  half  a  generation  had 
passed  before  the  independence  of  the  colonies  was  conceded 
by  Spain.  In  the  interval  much  blood  was  shed,  and  many 
names  were  made  and  lost.  A  few  survived,  and  still  shed 
renown  upon  the  cause  which  they  supported. 

But  at  the  beginning,  the  Spaniards  had  the  advantage; 
for  the  colonists  had  been  slaves  so  long  that  they  did  not 
know  how  to  adopt  practical  measures  to  be  free.  After  a 
short  but  bloody  struggle,  all  the  juntas  were  suppressed 
except  those  in  Colombia  and  in  Buenos  Ayres.  The  ideas 
which  had  called  them  into  being,  however,  could  not  be 
obliterated,  and  the  revolt  continued,  with  this  difference, 
that  the  sentiment  of  the  people  was  now  against  Spain  and 
Spain's  king,  instead  of  being  merely  reformatory  within  the 
limits  of  loyalty;  what  they  wanted  now,  and  perceived  that 
they  must  possess,  was  absolute  separation  from  the  mother 
country,  and  total  independence.  This  was  a  far  stronger 
motive  than  the  original  one,  because  its  aim  was  more  in- 
spiring and  noble,  and  the  penalties  of  failure  were  more 
terrible.  If  there  could  but  be  loyalty  to  one  another,  and 
an  intelligent  combination  between  the  various  parts  of  the 
colonial  empire,  it  ought  not  to  be  difficult  to  win  success. 
Unfortunately,  as  we  know  from  the  experience  of  our  own 
Revolution,  united  action  is  the  very  thing  which  revolution- 
ists, especially  at  the  inception  of  their  attempts,  find  it  most 
difficult  to  secure.  It  was  especially  difficult  in  the  present 
case ;  there  was  no  ready  means  of  communication  between 
the  colonies  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  and  there  was 
much  ignorance  to  be  enlightened,  as  well  as  many  personal 
ambitions  to  be  accommodated.  And  first  of  all  was  needed 
a  really  great  man,  the  magic  of  whose  words  and  acts  might 
cause  all  warring  factions  to  unite  with  him.  Such  a  man, 
very  nearly,  was  Simon  Bolivar,  who,  with  San  Martin  and 


382  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

O'Higgins,  did  more  than  any  others  to  carry  the  long  and 
desultory  war  to  a  successful  conclusion.  It  is  worth  while 
to  examine  a  little  into  Bolivar's  origin  and  history. 

He  was  born  at  Caracas,  Venezuela,  on  the  24th  of  July, 
1783.  In  1810,  therefore,  he  was  but  seven  and  twenty  years 
of  age.  His  early  years  were  spent  in  comfort  on  his  father's 
estates,  the  latter  being  a  wealthy  man,  possessed  of  consid- 
erable landed  property.  But  the  elder  Bolivar  died  when 
Simon  was  three  years  old;  his  mother  did  not  very  long 
survive  him.  Simon,  however,  received  a  fair  education, 
considering  the  age  and  place.  A  certain  Don  Simon  Rodri- 
guez was  his  first  instructor :  a  gentleman,  it  would  appear, 
of  no  little  learning,  and  of  homely  and  simple  exterior, 
which  led  to  his  receiving  the  nickname  of  Diogenes.  Un- 
der him  the  boy  continued  until  his  fifteenth  year,  when 
he  passed  to  the  care  of  the  sages  of  the  Church.  His  only 
surviving  relative,  and  uncle,  Don  Carlos  Palacios,  Marquis 
Palacios,  assumed  the  position  of  guardian  to  the  youth,  and 
decided  that  the  best  thing  to  do  with  him  was  to  send  him 
to  the  mother  country  to  complete  his  education.  For  sev- 
eral years  accordingly  we  may  imagine  him  studying  law 
in  the  Spanish  capital,  and  making  acquaintance  with  life 
in  general.  Like  many  South  Americans,  he  showed  a  pre- 
cocity which  is  not  so  common  among  us ;  and  before  he  was 
twenty  he  knew  the  world  (after  the  fashion  that  precocious 
youths  know  it),  and  had  begun  to  form  opinions  upon  vari- 
ous important  subjects.  "Whether  the  opinions  were  as  im- 
portant as  the  subjects,  is  another  matter.  Leaving  Spain, 
he  travelled  over  Europe,  making  the  grand  tour,  as  fashion 
and  his  own  pleasure  demanded.  He  saw  other  countries, 
and  compared  them  with  his  own,  no  doubt  drawing  con- 
clusions therefrom.  No  country  in  Europe  at  that  time, 
not  even  England,  was  a  wholly  Paradisiacal  spectacle; 
but  there  are  degrees  of  imperfection,  and  certainly  a  native 
of  Venezuela,  not  quite  blinded  by  local  prejudice,  must 
have  seen  things  in  Europe  which  made  him  reflect  that 
there  was  room  for  improvement  at  home.  But  through 


THE   REVOLT   AGAINST   SPAIN  383 

whom  was  the  improvement  to  come?  He  had  seen  some- 
thing of  the  Spanish  court,  and  had  even  enjoyed  a  personal 
acquaintance  with  Ferdinand  himself,  then  a  child,  and  had 
on  one  occasion  struck  him  on  the  head  with  a  racket.  He 
long  afterward  referred  to  this  incident,  interpreting  it  as 
an  omen  that  he  was  one  day  to  "wrench  from  his  crown 
its  most  precious  jewel."  But  Ferdinand's  behavior  upon 
the  occasion  could  not  have  given  Bolivar  any  assurance 
that  he,  as  king,  would  be  apt  to  be  the  one  who  should 
dispense  justice  to  the  colonies.  Who  should  do  it  then? 
Did  Bolivar  have  any  presentiment  that  he  would  ever  do 
it  himself? 

He  was  in  Paris  at  the  close  of  the  French  Revolution, 
being  still  only  nineteen  years  old ;  and  that  spectacle  may 
well  have  inclined  him  to  doubt  whether  popular  govern- 
ment was  an  altogether  lovely  thing,  either.  As  between 
despotism  and  democracy,  there  were  faults  on  both  sides. 
Bolivar  now  returned  to  Madrid  and  married  a  young  lady 
who  is  described  as  "beautiful  and  accomplished."  She 
was  -but  sixteen;  and  these  two  children,  as  we  might  call 
them,  set  out  for  Venezuela,  expecting  to  spend  their  wedded 
life  there  upon  the  Bolivar  estates.  The  good-looking  and 
wealthy  young  people,  who  ardently  loved  each  other,  might 
well  look  forward  to  a  life  of  felicity  in  the  lovely  scenery 
and  climate  of  northern  South  America;  but  Providence 
would  not  have  it  so.  Bolivar  had  other  duties  awaiting 
him  than  to  be  happy  in  peaceful  seclusion  with  his  wife. 
Had  she  lived,  he  might  never  have  heard  the  call  of  a 
higher  love  than  the  domestic  one.  His  young  wife  died, 
soon  after  landing,  of  yellow  fever;  and  there  is  no  reason 
to  doubt  that  upon  his  thoughtful  and  passionate  nature  this 
unexpected  and  grievous  loss  produced  a  profound  and  per- 
manent effect.  He  could  not  bear  to  live  on  in  the  place 
where  he  had  looked  forward  to  living  with  her;  and  for 
five  years  he  resided  in  Paris,  whither  he  had  returned 
immediately  after  her  death.  "I  loved  my  wife  much," 
he  afterward  said,  "and  at  her  death  I  made  a  vow  never 


384  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

again  to  marry.  I  have  kept  my  oath.  Perhaps,  had  I  not 
lost  her,  my  career  would  have  been  different.  I  might 
not,  then,  have  been  General  of  the  Liberators.  My  sec- 
ond visit  to  Europe  would  never  have  been  made.  The 
ideas  which  I  imbibed  during  my  travels  would  not  have 
come  to  me;  and  the  experience  I  have  had,  the  study  of 
the  world  that  I  have  made,  and  of  men  and  things — all 
this,  which  has  so  well  served  me,  would  never  have  been. 
Politics  would  never  have  attracted  me.  But  the  death  of 
my  wife  caused  the  love  of  my  country  to  burn  in  my  heart ; 
and  I  have  followed  the  chariot  of  Mars  rather  than  Ceres' 
plow." 

Many  young  men  before  Bolivar,  and  after  him,  have 
declared,  when  their  first  love  died,  that  love  of  woman  was 
forever  past  with  them ;  and  have  discovered  later  that  they 
spoke  too  quickly.  But,  with  Bolivar,  the  forecast  was  a 
true  one.  In  the  company  of  his  old  friend  and  preceptor, 
Diogenes  Rodriguez,  he  left  Paris  hi  1805,  and  went  to  Italy. 
At  that  time  Napoleon  was  in  the  midst  of  his  astonishing 
career,  and  some  men  called  him  a  god,  some  a  demon,  but 
all  held  him  to  be  unmatchable  and  unprecedented.  Bolivar 
made  the  passage  of  the  Alps  on  foot,  following  the  trail 
which  Napoleon  and  his  army  had  made  six  years  before; 
and  he  had  the  fortune  to  be  present  when  the  Man  of  Des- 
tiny placed  on  his  own  brows  the  iron  crown  of  Lombardy, 
uttering  the  defiant  words,  "God  has  given  it  to  me!"  He 
witnessed,  also,  the  emperor's  review  of  that  army  by  whose 
aid  he  had  conquered  the  world.  These  were  memorable 
sights.  Pondering  them,  he  journeyed  on  to  other  Italian 
towns — to  Venice,  to  lovely  Florence,  and  finally  to  Rome, 
capital  of  the  world.  Throughout,  the  sage  Rodriguez  was 
his  fellow  traveller. 

In  Rome  we  may  imagine  him  meditating  over  the  ashes 
of  an  empire  that  had  perished  in  its  iniquities,  and  marvel- 
ling over  that  new  empire  of  the  spirit  which  had  arisen  in 
its  place.  The  aspirations  which  had  long  been  working 
silently  in  his  mind  began  to  seek  expression.  One  day  he 


THE   REVOLT   AGAINST   SPAIN  385 

proposed  to  his  companion  that  they  visit  Monte  Aventino, 
from  whose  summit  the  immemorial  city,  with  its  ruins  and 
its  churches,  was  visible  in  the  morning  light,  an  epitome  of 
human  power  and  frailty.  The  scene,  by  some  subtle  asso- 
ciation, recalled  to  Bolivar  his  native  Caracas.  Rome  was 
the  grave  of  a  mighty  history  past;  might  not  Caracas  be- 
come the  birthplace  of  a  famous  history  to  come?  The  curse 
that  waits  on  mortal  pride  had  fallen  upon  Rome ;  might  not 
Caracas  take  the  first  step  in  throwing  off  the  curse  which 
mortal  greed  and  oppression  had  caused  to  weigh  her  down? 
— and  might  not  Bolivar  himself  be  the  instrument  to  bring 
this  to  pass?  As  these  thoughts  entered  his  brain,  a  sudden 
passion  seized  upon  him;  he  grasped  Rodriguez's  hand. 
"This  is  the  Sacred  Mount,"  said  he;  "let  us,  standing 
here,  pledge  our  lives  to  the  liberation  of  our  country!" 
The  incident  has  a  Byronic  flavor;  but  "Childe  Harold" 
was  not  written  till  six  years  later;  and  we  are  also  to  re- 
member that  this  vow,  youthful  and  grandiloquent  though 
it  reads  now,  was  one  at  least  of  the  predisposing  causes 
of  South  American  Independence. 

We  may  now,  therefore,  regard  Bolivar  as  having  a  defi- 
nite object  in  life,  of  as  high  a  sort  as  can  fall  to  any  man. 
He  was  to  live  and,  if  need  be,  die  for  his  country ;  he  was 
to  cast  off  her  yoke  of  centuries,  and  see  her  arise  free  and 
happy.  A  great  purpose  is  for  many  men  a  regeneration ; 
it  makes  them  over  anew,  on  a  higher  plane.  Bolivar  had 
missed  the  tenderer  side  of  life;  his  strong  affections  had 
been  bereft  of  their  first  object,  and  now  they  seized  with 
multiplied  energy  upon  this  new  object  which  could  never 
be  taken  away.  It  would  mold  all  his  future  actions  and 
designs,  and  it  contained  the  seed  from  which  were  to  spring 
the  events  of  his  career.  Little,  indeed,  did  the  young  man 
imagine  what  lay  before  him ;  had  he  done  so  it  is  possible 
that  he  might  have  hesitated  to  go  forward  upon  a  path  so 
rugged  and  stormy,  not  unattended  by  episodes  neither  glo- 
rious nor  noble.  But  what  man  could  have  the  courage  to 
exist,  did  he  know  all  that  the  day  was  to  bring  forth?  The 


386  HISTORY   OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

future  is  mercifully  hidden ;  but  the  purpose  and  the  hope 
are  with  us,  and  with  those  we  make  shift  to  fight  our  way. 
Bolivar's  destiny  was,  to  arrive,  after  trials  and  efforts  which 
would  have  crushed  most  men,  to  a  bright  summit  of  power 
and  honor;  but  it  was  not  to  be  his  destiny  to  die  at  that 
great  moment.  His  end  was  to  come  to  him  in  sadness  and 
exile;  in  his  life  of  seven  and  forty  years  he  was  to  experi- 
ence all  vicissitudes.  But  looking  back  upon  all  that  had 
been,  at  the  last,  he  may  well  have  told  himself  that  the 
good  overtopped  the  evil;  and  the  welcome  thought  may 
have  come  to  him  that  his  country  was  the  better  because 
he  had  lived.  And  happiness,  in  this  world,  is  an  approving 
conscience,  or  it  is  nothing. 

Bolivar  sailed  for  the  West  in  1809,  passing  through  the 
United  States  on  his  way  home,  to  observe  the  working  of 
Republican  institutions,  which  at  that  time  were  doing  fairly 
well  under  the  benign  superintendence  of  Thomas  Jefferson. 
Bolivar  seems  to  have  thought  highly  of  our  Constitution, 
and  resolved  to  adopt  it  in  the  Republic  which  he  meant  to 
call  into  being  in  the  south.  It  is  to  his  credit  as  a  judicious 
person,  although  so  young,  that  he  preferred  it  to  the  bois- 
terous promises  and  protestations  of  the  French  democracy. 
But  youthful  generosity-,  rather  than  judgment,  was  shown 
in  his  invitation  to  Miranda  to  enter  Caracas  with  him. 
This  unlucky  hunter  of  shadows  was  at  that  time  living 
in  much  retirement  and  discredit  in  London,  contending 
as  best  he  might  with  the  difficulties  of  proving  that  his 
untimely  disappearance  from  the  naval  engagement  of 
Bonair  reflected  no  dishonor  upon  his  personal  heroism. 
Bolivar  had  been  in  communication  with  the  juntas  in 
Venezuela,  and  they  had  prudently  counselled  him  to  have 
nothing  to  do  with  Miranda;  the  country,  they  surmised, 
would  be  safer  without  the  aid  of  patriots  of  his  sort.  Boli- 
var, however,  at  that  stage  of  his  development,  was  willing 
to  believe  that  the  devil  might  not  be  so  black  as  he  was 
painted;  he  thought  that  possibly  Miranda  might  have  been 
the  victim  of  circumstances,  and  merited  to  be  triad  once 


THE   REVOLT   AGAINST   SPAIN  387 

more.  Accordingly,  he  sent  him  the  invitation  which  was 
fated  to  have  consequences  much  more  important  than  either 
of  them  anticipated.  For  the  moment,  everything  turned 
out  favorably.  Miranda  was  an  old  man  for  those  days — 
approaching  sixty — and  his  fiasco  at  Bonair  was  three  years 
in  the  past,  and  the  facts  concerning  it  had  never  been  thor- 
oughly established.  On  the  other  hand,  there  was  no  deny- 
ing that  he  had  achieved  a  certain  distinction  in  the  world; 
native  Venezuelans  who  showed  above  the  level  were  rare, 
and  one  must  make  the  best  of  what  one  has.  Moreover, 
the  conflict  with  the  Spanish  viceroy  had  already  begun, 
and  need  was  of  all  the  patriots  that  could  be  got  together. 
Revolution  had  broken  out  in  La  Paz,  on  the  summits  of 
the  Bolivian  Andes;  the  Spanish  officials  there  had  been 
deposed,  and  a  junta  established.  Another  junta  was 
formed  at  Quito  the  following  August,  and  meanwhile 
Spanish  forces  were  marching  against  the  La  Paz  rebels 
from  Buenos  Ayres  and  Peru.  The  La  Paz  junta  raised 
an  army,  and  gave  battle  to  the  enemy;  but  they  were 
soundly  defeated,  and  the  victors  inflicted  upon  them  such 
tortures  and  outrages  as  the  Spanish  genius  has  ever  been 
fertile  in.  The  leaders  were  captured  and  executed.  Quito's 
turn  came  next;  the  patriots  were  able  to  make  no  head 
against  the  royal  troops.  But  while  these  successes  were 
attending  the  Spanish  efforts  in  the  north,  trouble  broke 
out  in  Buenos  Ayres,  in  the  rear;  Cisneros,  the  viceroy 
there,  was  compelled  to  abdicate,  and  a  junta  assumed 
power.  For  a  time,  these  people  were  unchecked,  for  the 
royalists  were  fully  occupied  elsewhere.  There  were  minor 
conflicts  in  Montevideo,  in  Uruguay,  and  elsewhere,  and 
then  the  junta  made  a  compact  of  alliance  with  the  Portu- 
guese of  Brazil,  which  was  then  embroiled  with  Spain  over 
a  question  of  boundaries.  Before  these  events,  Caracas  had 
followed  the  general  example ;  and  by  the  time  Bolivar  and 
Miranda  made  their  entry  into  the  city,  war  was  in  the  air, 
and  the  excitable  populace  was  eager  to  hail  somebody — it 
mattered  not  much  who — as  champion  and  rescuer.  Bolivar 


388  HISTORY   OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

and  Miranda,  riding  side  by  side  into  the  city,  answered  tl;e 
requirements  as  well  as  anybody.  They  were  greeted  with 
acclamations,  and  Miranda  received  full  as  hearty  a  welcome 
as  the  practically  unknown  Bolivar.  Miranda  was  not  the 
man  to  neglect  so  good  an  opportunity  of  recommending  and 
exalting  himself.  He  soon  had  convinced  all  who  would 
listen  to  him  that  his  defeats  had  been  moral  victories,  and 
that  what  had  seemed  poltroonery  was  but  a  sublimer  kind 
of  courage.  The  uprising  of  the  people  occurred  in  April  of 
this  year,  and  Miranda  rode  upon  the  crest  of  its  wave.  An 
electoral  college  was  created  in  the  town  to  elect  representa- 
tives to  congress,  to  settle  the  question  as  to  whether  inde- 
pendence should  be  announced.  It  was  the  first  assembly 
in  South  America  which  had  acted  at  the  instance  of  the 
colonists,  instead  of  in  obedience  to  the  crown.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  course,  the  renowned  Miranda  was  chosen  one  of  the 
deputies,  and  was  given  the  rank  of  lieutenant-general  of 
the  Army  of  the  Provinces.  He  regaled  all  and  sundry 
with  tales_of  how  he  had  foreseen  and  prophesied  this  event, 
and  intimated  that  the  prophecy  had  been  father  to  the  fact. 
Every  one  was  excited  and  enthusiastic,  as  is  apt  to  be  the 
case  when  danger  is  ahead  but  has  not  yet  assumed  material 
form.  Miranda  was  "hailed"  as  the  venerable  apostle  of 
liberty.  As  for  young  Simon  Bolivar,  he  held  himself  in 
reserve,  and  watched  the  course  of  things,  lending  a  hand 
when  chance  offered.  He  had  not  yet  suffered  glorious  de- 
feats, like  his  elderly  colleague ;  but  he  was  ready  to  do  what 
he  could  for  Caracas  and  South  America,  as  soon  as  anything 
should  present  itself  to  be  done. 

South  Americans  date  the  beginning  of  independence 
from  this  19th  of  April,  1810.  It  is  impossible  to  affirm  what 
purposes  were  or  were  not  in  the  minds  of  the  junta  at  that 
time ;  but  in  the  light  of  subsequent  events  they  persuaded 
themselves  that  they  intended  freedom  from  Spain  from  the 
first.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  nations,  like  individuals,  are  led 
along  from  one  point  to  another,  with  very  little  idea  as  to 
where  they  will  ultimately  bring  up.  Every  one  was  shout- 


THE   REVOLT   AGAINST    SPAIN  389 

ing,  every  one  was  making  an  oration  on  all  manner  of  ab- 
stract topics ;  and  of  course  all  manner  of  things  must  have 
got  themselves  uttered.  It  is  very  possible  that,  among 
these  things,  the  immediate  independence  of  Caracas  may 
have  been  suggested.  What  is  certain  is  that  the  local  cap- 
tain-general, Emparan,  had  no  intention  of  abandoning  his 
position  as  representative  of  Spain ;  and  he  had  been  unable 
to  persuade  himself  that  these  shouting  and  gesticulating 
lunatics  were  in  the  least  in  earnest  in  their  vaporings.  He 
would  imprison  or  perhaps  behead  two  or  three  of  them,  and 
all  would  be  peaceful  and  quiet  once  more.  Of  the  three 
parties  into  which  the  inhabitants  divided  themselves,  Em- 
paran could  reasonably  count  upon  the  support,  active  or 
passive,  of  two:  the  royalists,  who  favored  Ferdinand,  and 
the  imperialists,  who  were  for  Napoleon.  The  third  party, 
the  so-called  patriots,  among  whose  leaders  was  this  young 
Simon  Bolivar,  were  hardly  worth  considering,  in  Emparan's 
opinion.  He  noted  down  the  names  of  the  most  conspicuous 
of  them,  for  future  reference. 

The  existence  of  a  regency  at  Cadiz  had  been  announced 
at  Caracas  by  commissioners  on  April  18th,  and  the  Vene- 
zuelans had  been  duly  admonished  to  look  upon  the  regency 
as  the  true  representative  of  the  king.  But  Simon  Bolivar 
was  moved  to  deliver  himself  of  certain  opinions  and  senti- 
ments upon  this  occasion,  which  history  has  preserved.  He 
said:  "This  power  which  fluctuates  in  such  a  manner  in  the 
Peninsula,  without  making  itself  secure,  invites  us  to  estab- 
lish, here  in  Caracas,  a  junta  of  our  own,  and  to  be  governed 
by  ourselves. "  The  word  was  spoken;  the  thought  which 
had  been  latent  in  many  minds  had  declared  itself.  The 
people  went  home  and  slept  upon  it — if  we  can  suppose  that 
there  was  sleep  under  such  pregnant  circumstances — and  the 
following  morning,  which  was  Holy  Thursday,  the  corpora- 
tion of  the  city  assembled  at  the  church  to  celebrate  the  holy 
ceremony,  as  good  Catholics  should.  Emparan,  the  captain- 
general,  received  their  invitation  to  attend  with  them.  Em- 
paran was  careful  of  his  dignity ;  it  was  his  custom  to  declare 


390  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

that  he  governed  Caracas  absolutely,  with  no  reference  to 
any  other  power;  and  when  he  and  the  corporation  met,  and 
he  was  given  to  understand  that  a  junta  was  being  mooted, 
he  was  naturally  in  a  state  of  high  indignation.  But  the 
church  services  were  about  to  begin.  "I  will  talk  with  you 
after  the  divine  offices  in  the  church, ' '  said  he,  ominously ; 
and  turned  upon  his  heel  and  stalked  away,  like  the  grandees 
of  the  drama.  The  longer  the  holy  office  continued,  the  more 
full  of  evil  rage  did  Emparan  become ;  and  it  may  be  sur- 
mised that  the  corporation  awaited  the  result  of  his  medita- 
tions with  some  anxiety.  This  was  the  first  time  any  of 
them  had  ever  bearded  a  captain-general,  and  they  knew  not 
what  might  come  of  it.  They  were  left  in  suspense  for  an 
hour  or  more.  Perhaps  the  next  event  would  be  their  arrest, 
and  heaven  knows  what  after  that.  In  this  predicament, 
why  not  take  the  law  into  their  own  hands ;  it  might  be  their 
last  chance.  By  the  time  Emparan  met  them  in  the  council 
chamber,  the  Rubicon  had  been  crossed;  the  council  had 
made  up  their  minds  that  Caracas  was  independent,  and 
that  Emparan,  consequently,  was  out  of  a  job.  They  re- 
ceived him  politely,  however,  and  began  suggesting  that 
he  co-operate  in  the  formation  of  a  supreme  junta.  The 
man  was  so  astounded,  or  so  choked  with  passion,  that  he 
made  little  or  no  reply;  whereupon  the  council,  taking  silence 
for  assent,  was  on  the  point  of  offering  him  the  presidency 
of  the  junta.  But  before  this  matter  could  be  put  to  the 
vote,  there  was  an  unexpected  and  important  interruption. 
Into  the  council  chamber  suddenly  burst  an  excited  figure 
clad  in  priestly  vestments,  who  was  at  once  recognized  as 
Jose  Cortes  Madariga,  a  Chilian,  and  deacon  of  the  cathe- 
dral. The  aspect  of  him,  declare  the  chroniclers,  was  as  that 
of  a  prophet.  He  advanced  to  the  centre  of  the  floor  and 
threw  up  his  arm.  The  captain-general  frowned  upon  him, 
pale  and  haughty.  The  councillors  paused  in  their  proceed- 
ings. For  a  moment  there  was  a  painful  silence. 

"I  appear  before  you,"  then  said  Madariga,  in  a  strained 
voice,  "as  the  deputy  of  the  clergy  of  this  realm.     I  speak 


THE    REVOLT    AGAINST    SPAIN  391 

with  the  voice  of  the  Church  in  Venezuela.  Beware  what 
you  are  about  to  do !  Are  you  so  blind  as  once  more,  at  this 
supreme  moment,  to  put  yourself  in  the  power  of  Spain? 
Will  you  again  deliver  yourselves  bound  hand  and  foot  into 
the  keeping  of  that  man?"  He  pointed  at  the  captain-gen- 
eral, and  his  voice  gained  depth  and  power.  "Beware!  Im- 
peril not  the  fair  prospect,  offered  by  Providence,  of  popular 
sovereignty;  turn  not  away  from  this  divine  gift  of  freedom 
and  self-government !  Who  is  there  in  Spain  to  claim  your 
obedience?  The  rightful  king  is  an  exile,  if  not  a  prisoner. 
The  regency  is  but  the  corrupt  favorite  of  the  queen,  mas- 
querading as  the  royal  representative.  An  alien  sits  on  the 
Spanish  throne,  hated  and  denounced  by  the  people  he  as- 
sumes to  govern.  I  tell  you  there  is  none  who  can  demand 
your  fealty.  You  are  masters  of  yourselves  at  this  hour :  it 
is  the  hour  of  your  emancipation."  Then,  summoning  up  all 
his  energies,  he  once  more  faced  the  captain-general.  "I 
demand  the  deposition  of  this  man!"  he  shouted.  "I  de- 
mand it  in  the  name  of  the  public  good.  Aye,  in  the  name 
of  justice  I  demand  it,  and  of  my  country,  and  of  liberty!" 

These  loud  and  bold  words  echoed  through  the  silent 
chamber,  where  the  councillors  sat,  not  knowing  what  might 
be  coming  next.  But  the  Spanish  governor  rose  up,  porten- 
tous with  indignation.  Outside  the  building  a  great  crowd 
had  been  collecting  during  the  session,  and  the  sunny  square 
was  filled  with  them  from  side  to  side,  and  their  murmur 
was  audible  through  the  open  windows.  Reiving  upon  the 
prestige  of  his  personal  power,  Emparan  resolved  upon  the 
instant  to  appeal  to  them  There  was  a  balcony  leading 
from  the  chamber,  and  overlooking  the  square ;  to  this  Em- 
paran hastened ;  but  Madariga  had  divined  his  purpose,  and 
instantly  followed  him.  They  appeared  upon  the  balcony 
together;  and  the  priest  was  almost  as  well  known  to  the 
populace  as  was  the  captain-general.  The  former  stood 
behind  the  other,  who,  in  the  fierceness  of  the  crisis,  did  not 
perceive  him. 

Emparan's  words  were  few,  but  to  the  point.     "Vene- 


392  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

zuelans,"  he  cried  out,  "answer  me — are  you  content  with 
my  administration?" 

He  stood,  the  centre  of  a  thousand  eyes,  awaiting  their 
verdict,  upon  which,  perhaps,  the  future  of  Spanish  America 
depended.  But  those  eyes,  looking  past  him,  perceived  the 
dark  figure  of  the  priest,  who  silently  raised  his  arm,  and 
made  an  emphatic  gesture  of  negation.  Every  man  caught 
the  significance  of  the  motion,  and  responded  to  it. 

"No — no!"  roared  the  people,  as  with  one  voice,  pressing 
forward  and  tossing  themselves  tumultuously.  "No — we 
want  you  not — we  will  have  governors  of  our  own :  we  want 
you  not!" 

The  haughty  Emparan  glared  down  upon  them,  clinch- 
ing his  fists,  his  face  red,  then  pale.  He  could  do  nothing; 
his  power  was  gone,  and  he  knew  it.  There  was  hardly  a 
man  in  all  that  crowd  whom  he  had  not  wronged  personally ; 
and  that  turbulent  outcry,  with  the  growl  of  menace  in  it, 
admonished  him  to  restrain  himself. 

"You  do  not  want  me?"  he  said,  in  hoarse  and  heavy 
tones,  grasping  the  marble  railing  of  the  balcony  to  still  the 
quivering  of  his  hands.  He  paused  to  gain  his  self-posses- 
sion; and  then,  with  the  words,  "Neither  do  I  want  you!" 
he  turned,  and  slowly  withdrawing,  was  seen  no  more.  So 
fell  the  power  of  Spain  in  Caracas. 

The  junta  was  forthwith  proclaimed  as  an  independent 
power,  qualified  to  choose  its  own  form  of  government,  and 
pledged  not  to  recognize  the  regency  at  Cadiz.  It  still 
affirmed  itself  prepared  to  recognize  the  authority  of  Ferdi- 
nand, should  he  recover  the  throne;  but  it  decreed  mean- 
while the  banishment  of  Emparan,  with  the  payment  of  his 
expenses  for  the  journey  to  the  United  States.  In  effect, 
Venezuela  had  revolted. 

After  Emparan  had  gone,  the  provinces  elected  their  rep- 
resentative congress  and  the  deputies  met  at  Caracas.  The 
absorbing  question  now  was,  whether  this  congress  would 
vote  to  sever  the  province  from  Spain  and  proclaim  its  in- 
dependence to  the  world.  The  general  trend  of  opinion  was 


THE   REVOLT   AGAINST   SPAIN  393 

radically  patriotic;  yet  there  were  not  wanting  many  who 
would  fain  make  haste  slowly.  An  association  calling  itself 
the  Patriotic  Club  of  Caracas  was  formed,  of  which  the  lead- 
ing men  of  the  province  were  members,  and  which  soon  was 
recognized  as  the  leader  of  thought  in  that  part  of  the  coun- 
try. The  legislative  body  itself  was  influenced  by  its  decis- 
ions, for  the  most  weighty  members  of  the  legislature  were 
affiliated  with  the  society.  Those  who  had  been  conversant 
with  the  events  of  the  French  Revolution  saw  in  this  Patri- 
otic organization  a  reminiscence  of  the  famous  clubs  which 
had  decreed  such  momentous  things  during  that  bloody 
epoch.  Timid  minds  saw  in  the  simultaneous  existence  of 
the  Club  and  of  the  legislature  a  possible  source  of  dispute 
and  friction;  and  dreaded  lest  the  former  might  take  advan- 
tage of  its  lack  of  legal  responsibility  to  lead  the  country  into 
rash  excesses.  The  Club  held  a  meeting  on  the  4th  of  July, 
1811,  and  in  the  midst  of  great  general  excitement  Simon 
Bolivar  arose  to  address  the  assembly. 

"Patriots,"  he  began,  "we  have  heard  it  said  that  there 
are  two  congresses  here  in  Caracas,  one  of  opinion,  the  other 
of  action.  It  is  not  so;  yet  both  opinion  and  action  are 
needed,  and  there  need  not  be,  and  there  is  not,  any  discord 
between  them.  The  crisis  demands  both  that  we  think  and 
that  we  act.  We,  who  realize  the  necessity  for  the  union 
of  all  hearts  and  minds  at  this  hour — we  dread  no  schism. 
Patriots,  what  we  desire  and  what  we  aim  at,  in  our  struggle 
for  liberty,  is  union  of  mind  and  heart.  The  hour  we  have 
prayed  for  is  here.  Yesterday,  to  linger  in  the  arms  of  apathy 
was  shameful  only;  to-day,  it  is  treason!  The  Voice  of  the 
people  speaks,  and  it  will  be  heard.  Our  sovereign  Con- 
gress, assembling,  debates  what  action  it  shall  take  at  this 
crisis;  and  what  is  its  decision? — that  we  should  embark 
upon  the  new  order  of  our  destiny  with  a  confederation? 
Are  we  not  already  confederated  against  foreign  tyranny? — 
That  we  should  await  the  results  of  the  policy  of  Spain? 
Await  them?  What  care  we,  my  countrymen,  whether 
Spain  sells  her  slaves  to  Bonaparte,  or  keeps  them  to  do  her 


394  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

own  bidding,  if  we  ourselves  are  resolved  to  be  free?  What 
matters  it  to  us,  I  say? — These  are  unworthy  considerations : 
they  are  the  fruit  of  our  long  and  sorrowful  subjection.  Are 
we  told  that  great  projects  must  develop  calmly? — Calmly! 
Are  not,  then,  three  centuries  of  servitude  preparation  suffi- 
cient for  decisive  action?  Calmly!  Must  we  endure  three 
hundred  years  more  of  tyranny  before  we  are  men?  Friends, 
this  Patriotic  Society  of  ours  gives  due  respect  to  the  august 
Congress  of  the  new  nation;  but  let  that  Congress  remember 
that  our  Society  is  in  harmony  with  the  heart  of  the  People : 
it  is  the  focus  of  light  in  the  cause  of  the  Revolution.  Pa- 
triots, let  us  here  lay  without  misgiving  the  foundation-stone 
of  South  American  liberty!  To  hesitate,  is  ruin!  Venezue- 
lans, I  move  that  a  committee  be  appointed  from  this  body 
to  convey  these  sentiments  to  the  Sovereign  Congress. ' ' 

Gallant  ideas  were  these,  fitly  expressed :  though  not,  as 
we  observe,  in  the  style  that  would  be  expected  on  the  floor 
of  the  English  House  of  Commons,  or  even  in  our  own  Con- 
gress. But  the  Latin  races  have  their  own  ways  of  doing 
things,  and  all  we  need  concern  ourselves  about  is  to  note 
how  they  prosper  in  the  doing.  When  the  sensation  caused 
by  Bolivar's  speech  had  somewhat  subsided,  up  sprang  a 
deputy  and  moved  that  the  motion  be  adopted.  It  was  car- 
ried by  acclamation;  and  to  one  Dr.  Miguel  Pena  was  in- 
trusted the  task  of  reducing  to  writing  the  petition  to  the 
Congress,  expressing  the  views  of  Don  Simon  Bolivar,  and 
of  submitting  it  to  them.  The  doctor,  it  appears,  worked 
with  such  diligence  that  on  that  very  evening  the  petition 
was  read  in  the  legislative  hall.  The  impression  it  produced 
was  profound.  The  night  passed,  however,  without  any 
action  having  been  taken  upon  it;  but  the  news  had  got 
abroad,  and  the  air  was  electric  with  suspense.  On  the  5th 
of  July,  Congress  assembled  and  was  addressed  by  its  presi- 
dent. "We  have  now,"  he  said,  "reached  the  moment  most 
opportune  for  considering  the  question  of  absolute  independ- 
ence. 1  suggest  to  the  deputies  that  the  discussion  should 
begin  at  once."  The  galleries  of  the  House  were  filled  with 


THE    REVOLT    AGAINST    SPAIN  395 

people,  who  applauded  vehemently.  The  question  was  put 
"Shall  the  motion  to  give  freedom  to  Venezuela  be  adopted?" 
The  motion  was  carried  with  no  dissentients.  And  then, 
with  the  remarkable  promptness  which,  on  this  occasion, 
marked  the  proceedings  of  a  people  whom  we  are  apt  to  re- 
gard as  over- prone  to  postpone  till  to-morrow  what  ought 
to  be  done  to-day,  the  Venezuelan  analogue  to  our  own 
Jeffersonian  Declaration  of  Independence  was  prepared  and 
promulgated  before  midnight.  A  very  meritorious  document 
it  is,  as  the  reader  shall  see  for  himself : — 

"In  the  name  of  the  all-powerful  God: 

"We,  the  representatives  of  the  United  Provinces  of 
Caracas,  Cumana,  Varinas,  Margarita,  Barcelona,  Merida 
and  Truxillo,  forming  the  American  Federation  of  Vene- 
zuela, in  the  south  continent,  in  Congress  assembled,  con- 
sidering the  full  and  absolute  possession  of  our  rights,  which 
we  justly  and  legally  recovered,  from  the  19th  of  April,  1810, 
in  consequence  of  the  occurrences  in  Bayona,  and  the  occu- 
pation by  conquest  of  the  Spanish  throne,  and  the  succession 
thereto  of  a  new  dynasty,  constituted  without  our  consent — 
are  desirous,  before  we  make  use  of  the  rights  of  which,  for 
more  than  three  centuries,  we  have  by  force  been  deprived, 
but  which  are  now  restored  to  us  by  the  progress  of  political 
events,  to  make  known  to  the  world  the  reasons  that  have 
been  generated  by  these  occurrences,  which  authorize  us  to 
make  free  use  of  our  sovereignty." 

That  is  a  good  long  sentence,  in  which  Jefferson  bears  his 
part,  but  complicated  with  the  desire  of  the  Caracan  imitator 
to  get  in  all  that  referred  to  the  local  situation ;  nor  should 
we  forget  the  circumstances  of  hurry  and  agitation  under 
which  the  whole  matter  was  conducted.  To  resume; 

"We  do  not  however  desire  to  begin  by  alleging  the 
rights  inherent  in  every  subject  country  to  recover  its  prop- 
erty and  independence ;  we  generously  forget  the  long  series 
of  ills,  injuries  and  privations  which  the  grievous  right  of 
conquest  has  occasioned  to  all  the  descendants  of  the  discov- 


396  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

erers,  conquerors  and  settlers  of  these  countries;  driven  as 
they  were  to  misery  by  the  very  country  which  should  have 
ministered  to  their  comfort.  We  draw  the  veil  over  the  three 
centuries  of  Spanish  domination  in  America;  and  we  now 
present  only  the  authentic  facts  of  disorder  and  conquest 
which  have  disrupted  the  Spanish  nation,  and  which  have 
deprived  her  of  her  last  pretext  for  continuing  to  oppress  us. 

"Ever  deaf  to  our  demands  for  justice,  the  governments 
of  Spain  have  tried  to  discredit  us  by  declaring  us  criminal, 
and  by  stamping  with  infamy  and  rewarding  with  the  scaf- 
fold each  attempt  which  at  various  periods  certain  Ameri- 
cans have  made  to  secure  the  happiness  of  their  country. 
Such  an  attempt  was  that  which  concern  for  our  welfare 
recently  prompted  us  to  make,  thereby  guarding  ourselves 
against  being  drawn  into  the  disorders  which  we  foresaw; 
and  hurried  to  that  hideous  fate  which  we  are  now  about  to 
remove  from  our  horizon  forever.  By  an  atrocious  policy, 
the  governments  of  Spain  have  succeeded  in  making  our 
own  kith  and  kin  insensible  to  our  misfortunes;  have  armed 
them  against  us;  have  erased  from  their  hearts  the  sweet 
sentiments  of  friendship  and  consanguinity,  and  converted 
a  part  of  our  own  family  into  our  deadly  foes. 

"At  the  very  time  when  we,  faithful  to  our  vows,  were 
sacrificing  our  security  and  civic  dignity  to  preserve  the 
rights  which  we  had  generously  accorded  to  Ferdinand 
the  Bourbon,  we  have  beheld  him  cement  by  ties  of  blood 
and  friendship  the  enforced  ties  which  bound  him  to  the 
French  emperor;  in  consequence  wh&reof  even  the  govern- 
ments of  Spain  have  already  announced  their  resolution  to 
acknowledge  him  conditionally. 

"Embarrassed  by  this  lamentable  alternative,  we  have 
remained  for  three  years  in  a  state  of  political  ambiguity 
and  indecision,  so  perilous  that  this  alone  would  justify  us 
in  the  resolve  which,  nevertheless,  our  promises  and  the 
bonds  of  brotherhood  caused  us  to  defer  to  the  last  moment. 
Now,  however,  constrained  by  the  hostile  and  unnatural  con- 
duct of  the  governments  of  Spain,  which  have  disburdened 


THE   REVOLT   AGAINST   SPAIN  397 

us  of  our  oath,  we  have  gone  beyond  the  limit  which  we  had 
at  first  proposed,  and  thus  are  called  to  the  august  attitude 
which  we  at  present  adopt. 

"But  we  who  glory  in  basing  our  conduct  upon  lofty 
principles  desire  not  to  win  happiness  at  the  cost  of  our 
fellow-men;  and  we  do  therefore  declare  to  be  our  friends 
and  sharers  of  our  felicity  all  those  who  are  of  our  blood, 
language  and  religion,  who  have  heretofore  suffered  like 
evils  as  we,  provided  they  acknowledge  our  absolute  inde- 
pendence of  Spain  and  of  all  other  powers;  that  they  help 
to  maintain  it  with  their  lives,  fortunes  and  honor;  and 
that  they  hold  Spaniards  in  war  enemies,  in  peace  friends 
and  brothers. 

"In  view  of  these  substantial  reasons  of  policy,  which 
urge  the  necessity  of  recovering  our  national  dignity;  and 
in  accord  with  the  rights  enjoyed  by  every  nation  to  destroy 
pacts  or  associations  which  do  not  answer  the  purpose  for 
which  governments  were  instituted,  we  believe  that  we 
neither  can  nor  ought  to  preserve  the  ties  which  have 
hitherto  bound  us  to  the  governments  of  Spain;  that,  like 
all  other  nations,  we  are  free,  and  authorized  not  to  depend 
upon  any  other  authority  than  our  own ;  and  to  take  among 
the  nations  of  the  earth  the  place  of  equality  to  which  the 
Supreme  Being  assigns  us,  and  to  which  we  are  called  by 
the  progress  of  events,  and  urged  by  our  own  good  and 
utility. 

"Though  conscious  of  the  difficulties  which  beset  and  the 
obligations  imposed  upon  us  by  the  rank  we  are  about  to 
assume  in  the  political  order  of  the  world ;  as  well  as  of  the 
strong  influence  of  the  forms  and  habitudes  to  which  we 
have  unfortunately  become  inured:  yet  we  know  neverthe- 
less that  shameful  submission  to  them,  when  we  can  throw 
them  off,  would  be  yet  more  ignominious  to  us  and  more 
fatal  to  our  posterity  than  our  long  and  painful  slavery; 
and  that  it  is  now  our  imperative  duty  to  provide  for  our 
own  safety  and  felicity  by  radically  altering  the  form  of 
our  late  constitution. 


398  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

"In  consequence  whereof,  believing  that,  by  the  reasons 
adduced,  we  have  satisfied  the  respect  which  we  owe  to  the 
opinion  of  the  human  race  and  the  dignity  of  other  nations, 
among  whom  we  are  about  to  enter,  and  on  whose  commu- 
nion and  friendship  we  rely : 

"We,  the  representatives  of  the  United  Provinces  of 
Venezuela,  calling  on  the  Supreme  Being  to  witness  the 
justice  of  our  proceedings  and  the  rectitude  of  our  inten- 
tions, do  implore  His  divine  and  celestial  help;  and  rati- 
fying, at  the  moment  in  which  we  are  born  to  the  dignity 
which  His  Providence  restores  to  us,  the  desire  we  have  of 
living  and  dying  free,  and  of  believing  and  defending  the 
Holy  Catholic  and  Apostolic  religion  of  Jesus  Christ;  we 
therefore  in  the  name  and  by  the  will  and  authority  which 
we  hold  for  the  virtuous  people  of  Venezuela,  do  declare 
solemnly  to  the  world  that  its  United  Provinces  are,  and 
ought  from  this  day  to  be,  by  act  and  right,  FREE, 
SOVEREIGN,  AND  INDEPENDENT  STATES;  and 
that  they  are  absolved  from  every  submission  and  depend- 
ence on  Spain,  or  on  those  who  do  or  may  call  themselves 
its  agents  or  representatives;  and  that  a  free  and  independ- 
ent state,  thus  constituted,  has  full  power  to  take  that  form 
of  government  which  may  be  conformable  to  the  general 
wish  of  the  people;  to  declare  war,  make  peace,  form  alli- 
ances, regulate  treaties  of  commerce,  limits  and  navigation; 
and  to  do  and  transact  every  act  in  like  manner  as  other 
free  and  independent  states.  And  that  this  our  solemn  dec- 
laration may  be  held  valid,  firm  and  durable,  we  hereby 
mutually  bind  each  province  to  the  other,  and  pledge  our 
lives,  fortunes,  and  the  sacred  tie  of  our  national  honor. 

"Done  in  the  Federal  Palace  at  Caracas,  signed  by  our 
hands,  sealed  with  the  great  Provincial  Seal  of  the  Confed- 
eration, and  countersigned  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Congress, 
this  Fifth  Day  of  July,  1811,  of  our  Independence  the  first." 

It  only  remained  to  adopt  the  tricolor  flag  formerly  born 
by  the  ever- vainglorious  Miranda,  and  the  new  little  republic 


THE   REVOLT   AGAINST   SPAIN  399 

was  finished  and  ready  for  business;  and  of  course  the  first 
business  she  was  called  on  to  undertake  was  the  shedding  of 
much  blood,  her  own  and  other  people's.  That  is  the  way 
freedom  is  born  in  the  world. 

Nearly  a  year  passed,  however,  in  comparative  tranquil- 
lity. The  Declaration  had  not  been  received  with  unanimous 
approval ;  for  already  one  of  the  mam  weaknesses  of  all  at- 
tempts to  found  republics  in  Spanish  America  had  appeared : 
the  mass  of  the  common  people  were  so  far  below  the  edu- 
cated leaders  in  intelligence,  and  so  alien  from  them  in  aims 
and  ideas,  that  these  leaders  stood  in  a  small  group  by  them- 
selves, constituting  an  oligarchy  whether  they  desired  it  or 
not.  The  commonalty  were  superstitious,  lethargic  and  ob- 
stinate; timid  as  hares  and  yet  inert.  They  did  not  know 
enough  to  co-operate,  and  they  could  not  be  stimulated  by 
an  appeal  to  high  and  generous  principles.  They  had  known 
nothing  but  despotism  all  their  lives,  and  were  unable  to 
understand  what  self-government  portended;  they  were  dis- 
posed to  believe  that  it  meant  only  a  new  and  possibly  yet 
more  grinding  form  of  tyranny.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
leaders  were  full  of  theories,  and  of  personal  political  ambi- 
tions ;  and  thus  the  gulf  between  them  and  their  constituen- 
cies dug  itself,  so  to  say,  and  became  deeper  and  wider  every 
day.  An  untoward  event,  in  these  circumstances,  might 
cause  the  people  to  change  their  merely  inert  attitude  for 
one  of  active  hostility;  and  then  the  cause  of  freedom  would 
be  in  serious  jeopardy. 

During  the  interval,  the  Constitution  was  written,  and 
presented  the  usual  features  of  such  documents;  we  need 
only  remark  that  the  Holy  Inquisition  was  abolished,  titles 
of  nobility  abrogated,  torture  forbidden,  and  the  slave-trade 
condemned.  An  army  was  decreed,  and  for  its  commander, 
Miranda  was  chosen.  Needless  to  say  he  accepted  the  ap- 
pointment. It  involved  posing  on  horseback,  in  a  showy 
uniform,  at  the  head  of  the  troops,  and  uttering  grandilo- 
quences in  and  out  of  season.  His  star  was  well  aloft,  and 
he  had  reason  to  congratulate  himself  upon  the  contrast 


400  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

between  his  present  position,  and  his  long  sojourn  in  cheap 
lodgings  in  London.  We  are  not  informed  that  he  expressed 
gratitude  to  Bolivar  for  having  rescued  him  from  the  lat- 
ter; probably  he  thought  the  young  man  had  been  but  the 
ignorant  instrument  of  judicious  Providence. 

The  sudden  apparition  upon  the  scene  of  one  Juan  Do- 
mingo Monteverde,  at  that  time  unknown,  but  soon  to  make 
for  himself  an  evil  name,  disturbed  the  serenity  of  affairs  in 
the  early  spring  of  the  year  1812.  Monteverde  was  a  native 
of  Teneriffe,  born  in  1772,  and  now  therefore  about  forty 
years  of  age.  He  was  an  adventurer  pure  and  simple,  with- 
out any  warrant  to  be  in  Venezuela;  but  he  had  energy 
enough  in  him  to  make  himself  erelong  one  of  the  most 
prominent  royalist  fighters  of  the  war,  and  easily  got  an 
appointment  as  general  in  the  royalist  army.  It  was  not  a 
time  for  Spain  to  pick  and  choose  among  those  who  offered 
her  their  assistance;  she  was  glad  to  take  what  she  could 
get.  Monteverde  had  little  education,  but  ample  self-assur- 
ance; and  he  landed  in  Venezuela  with  the  conviction  that 
as  between  Spain  and  her  colonies,  Spain  was  the  one  to 
back.  Accordingly  he  announced  himself  as  a  supporter  of 
Ferdinand;  collected  together  those  like-minded  with  him- 
self, and  was  soon  at  the  head  of  a  small  army ;  which  must 
have  contained  good  fighting  material,  for  it  found  no  diffi- 
culty in  defeating  such  forces  as  the  patriots  were  able  at  the 
moment  to  bring  against  it.  A  battle  took  place  at  Carora, 
a  small  town  fifty  or  sixty  miles  east  of  Lake  Maracaibo, 
which  resulted  badly  for  the  Venezuelans ;  and  Monteverde 
thereupon  declared  himself  the  champion  of  the  Royal  cause 
in  South  America.  Anything  was  possible  in  such  times; 
and  it  was  therefore  possible  that  this  soldier  of  fortune 
might  succeed  in  making  himself  viceroy  of  the  continent. 
It  was  worth  trying  for. 

He  was  aided,  almost  at  the  beginning  of  the  campaign, 
by  what  seemed  a  providential  event;  one  of  the  most  mem- 
orable that  ever  befell  in  South  America.  Acting  upon  the 
superstitious  character  of  the  common  people,  it  might  easily 


THE   REVOLT    AGAINST    SPAIN  401 

have  been  decisive.  The  26th  of  March  of  this  year  was  Holy 
Thursday.  It  is  never  very  cool  in  Venezuela,  which  at  best 
gets  its  head  only  about  ten  degrees  above  the  equator ;  but 
on  this  day  the  heat  was  noticeably  oppressive;  we  should 
say,  in  our  scientific  pride,  that  the  humidity  was  enormous ; 
drops  of  rain  actually  fell,  though  the  sky  was  cloudless;  the 
atmosphere  was  quite  motionless ;  not  an  atom  of  a  breeze  to 
be  had  anywhere,  by  rich  or  poor.  The  sun  had  that  red- 
dish hue  which  reminds  one  of  heated  iron,  and  the  watery 
vapor  through  which  he  shone  was  so  dense  that  it  was  pos- 
sible to  look  at  his  disk  without  winking.  The  morning  was 
intolerable ;  but  as  noon  parsed  the  temperature  became  por- 
tentous, and  a  deep  physical  uneasiness  seized  upon  every 
one;  causing  the  heart  to  thump  painfully,  and  setting  the 
nerves  on  edge.  People  felt  anxious,  and  were  yet  unable 
to  explain  what  they  were  anxious  about. 

Being  Holy  Thursday,  the  Church  monopolized  the  atten- 
tion of  the  people,  and  all  the  sacred  buildings  were  thronged 
with  great  crowds ;  though  in  the  heated  and  darkened  inte- 
riors the  air  soon  became  foul,  and  many  women  faulted. 
But  the  pallid  priests  intoned  the  service,  and  the  people 
bowed  themselves  and  murmured  their  responses.  Four 
o'clock  had  just  passed  when  the  great  calamity  came. 

It  began  with  a  sudden  sensation  on  the  part  of  each  per- 
son that  his  brain  was  swimming:  that  the  centres  of  his 
being  were  dissolving.  The  very  pavement  of  the  churches, 
and  the  solid  earth,  seemed  to  be  swaying  and  reeling.  But 
as  each  stared  bewildered  in  his  neighbor's  face,  all  saw  that 
it  was  no  delusion  but  a  reality;  and  at  the  same  moment  a 
deep  and  muffled  sound  was  heard,  followed  by  an  appalling 
detonation,  long-drawn  and  rumbling,  as  if  the  world  were 
shaken  on  its  foundations,  and  were  giving  way.  It  was 
not  the  sound  of  thunder;  it  came  not  from  above,  but  from 
the  depths.  The  congregations  started  to  their  feet,  stagger- 
ing and  white  with  fear.  The  awful  detonations  continued ; 
the  tall  arches  nodded,  and  the  solid  roofs  collapsed.  The 
priests  stopped  terror-stricken  in  the  midst  of  their  ceremo- 


402  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH   AMERICA 

nies;  there  was  a  wild  and  frenzied  turmoil  on  all  sides;  the 
masses  of  people  swung  hither  and  thither,  striving  to  es- 
cape; but  none  can  escape  the  earthquake.  They  crushed 
together;  they  were  hurled  against  the  stone  walls,  which 
came  down  upon  them  in  deadly  ruin.  The  pavement  be- 
neath their  feet  yawned  open  with  horrible  noises;  mephitic 
vapors  arose,  and  into  the  abysses  the  wretched  victims 
tumbled  headlong.  Out  of  doors  the  case  was  hardly  better. 
The  buildings  on  each  side  of  the  narrow  streets  cracked  and 
crumbled;  the  breadth  of  the  broad  square  opened  in  fright- 
ful crevasses,  and  sank  in  dusty  tumult.  There  was  no  ref- 
uge anywhere,  no  hope  nor  mercy.  Strange  sounds,  like 
titanic  groanings  and  shriekings,  broke  in  moaning  ulula- 
tions  on  the  ear.  The  air  was  thick  with  smoke  or  dust; 
the  sun,  half  way  down  the  western  sky,  hung  like  a  ball 
of  sullen  fire  over  the  widespread  desolation  and  destruction. 
In  a  few  minutes  the  city  of  Caracas,  and  many  another 
town  in  Venezuela,  had  ceased  to  exist,  and  full  ten  thou- 
sand people  had  perished.  Vast  numbers,  with  their  houses, 
were  utterly  engulfed  in  the  earth,  and  seen  no  more. 

Nature,  according  to  philosophy,  is  nothing  but  a  middle- 
term  between  creature  and  Creator,  and  has  no  reality  save 
what  is  given  to  it  by  our  physical  senses.  Nevertheless, 
physical  sense  occasionally  dominates  our  higher  faculties; 
and  there  are  few  men  who  preserve  their  serenity  of  soul 
undisturbed  throughout  an  earthquake.  We  are  so  much 
in  the  habit  of  regarding  the  earth  as  the  most  solid  and 
trustworthy  of  things,  and  God  as  merely  a  remote  possi- 
bility, that  when  the  earth  gives  way,  it  seems  to  us  that 
God  Himself  is  not  likely  to  be  of  much  avail  in  the  prem- 
ises. We  call  upon  his  name,  no  doubt;  but  more  as  a  mat- 
ter of  unconscious  habit  than  with  any  hope  of  practical 
benefit. 

Individuals  exist,  however,  whom  even  an  earthquake 
cannot  dismay ;  and  such  a  one,  according  to  the  chroniclers, 
seems  to  have  been  our  young  friend  Simon  Bolivar.  He 
had  attended  the  services,  along  with  hundreds  of  others, 


THE    REVOLT    AGAINST    SPAIN  403 

in  the  church  of  Saa  Jaciiito.  When  the  building  collapsed, 
a  shapeless  ruin  filled  with  death,  Bolivar  was  there,  but  he 
was  unhurt.  The  first  we  hear  of  him  is  from  the  lips  of  one 
who  knew  him,  a  man  by  the  name  of  Diaz,  who  in  clamber- 
ing over  the  heaps  of  rubbish  intermingled  with  corpses, 
came  upon  the  young  man,  with  his  coat  off,  burrowing  amid 
the  stones  and  timbers  in  the  effort  to  drag  out  some  bodies 
which  still  seemed  to  retain  life.  Bolivar  recognized  him, 
and  uttered,  according  to  Diaz,  the  following  rather  remark- 
able words:  "If  nature  opposes  herself  to  us,  we  will  wrestle 
with  her,  and  compel  her  to  obey. ' ' 

Diaz  regarded  the  speech  as  being  "Impious  and  extrava- 
gant"; but  his  point  of  view  was  that  of  a  simple-minded 
Catholic,  who  could  see  in  the  earthquake  nothing  less  than 
the  expression  of  the  Divine  wrath.  Bolivar,  on  the  other 
hand,  looked  upon  it  as  merely  a  physical  phenomenon,  due 
to  the  explosion  of  pent-up  gases  under  the  crust  of  the  globe, 
or  to  a  sudden  shifting  of  strata.  His  remark  may  have 
been,  in  the  circumstances,  injudicious;  but  there  does  not 
seem  to  be  anything  impious  about  it.  And  it  is  historically 
pertinent  as  showing  him  to  be  a  man  who  was  not  to  be 
scared  by  mortal  accidents,  but  held  himself  above  the  brute 
convulsions  of  the  physical  plane.  He  could  be  stirred  by 
the  struggle  of  emancipation  of  a  nation,  but  not  by  the 
destruction  of  some  thousands  of  human  beings  by  a  natural 
accident.  Death  can  never  do  any  harm  to  those  who  die; 
but  a  life  of  slavery  may  injure  people  beyond  remedy.  We 
must  concede  to  Bolivar  the  possession  of  a  stout  heart  and 
a  clear  brain. 

But  to  the  survivors  of  the  catastrophe  the  earthquake  had 
a  far  different  significance.  Those  who  believed,  as  most 
men  did  at  that  time,  that  kings  are  a  divina  institution,  to 
meddle  with  whose  "rights"  is  sacrilege,  had  already  had 
their  doubts  as  to  whether  the  revolt  of  Venezuela  might  not 
involve  the  chastisement  of  Heaven  upon  its  promoters;  and 
this  calamity  was  precisely  in  line  with  their  forebodings. 
God  was  angry  with  them  for  abandoning  Ferdinand,  and 
—  18 


404  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

He  had  taken  this  way  of  intimating  it.  The  priests  natu- 
rally encouraged  this  conviction,  and  the  leaders  of  the  revo- 
lution found  themselves  in  great  disfavor.  If  they  were  not 
the  direct  cause  of  the  earthquake,  what  was?  To  settle  the 
matter,  six  hundred  patriot  soldiers  had  been  among  those 
who  perished ;  they  were  crushed  in  the  barracks  in  Caracas ; 
and  six  hundred  more,  who  were  on  the  march  to  the  town 
of  San  Felipe,  utterly  disappeared  from  the  face  of  the  earth, 
along  with  San  Felipe  itself  and  all  its  inhabitants.  Nor 
was  this  all.  At  the  town  of  Barquisimeto,  on  the  fatal 
day,  there  had  been  a  review  of  the  forces  there,  which  was 
attended  by  twelve  hundred  people ;  they  too  had  been  swal- 
lowed up.  The  only  pious  conclusion  that  could  be  drawn 
from  these  events  was,  that  any  one  who  countenanced  re- 
bellion against  Spain  was  doomed  to  the  infernal  regions  by 
a  very  painful  route. 

Moreover,  as  luck  would  have  it,  the  evil-minded  Monte- 
verde  and  his  army  had  escaped  scot  free;  and  he  was  not 
slow  in  perceiving  and  taking  advantage  of  his  opportuni- 
ty. He  was  marching  against  Caracas  at  the  time,  and  had 
been  expecting  some  opposition;  but  the  earthquake  cleared 
the  way  before  him.  Instead  of  finding  foes  to  fight,  those 
who  might  have  attacked  him  nocked  to  his  banner.  He 
took  possession  of  Barquisimeto  and  sacked  San  Carlos.  A 
second  earthquake  on  the  4th  of  April  confirmed  any  remain- 
ing doubters  as  to  the  attitude  of  Providence  in  this  matter. 
And  Miranda  was  generalissimo! 

Miranda  proceeded  to  do  the  most  foolish  thing  that  the 
conditions  admitted.  He  sent  for  Bolivar  and  instructed 
him  to  go  to  Porto  Cabello,  a  fortress  in  which  royalist  pris- 
oners were  confined,  and  take  the  command  of  it.  He  was 
not  to  be  trusted  to  do  any  fighting  in  the  open ;  that  must 
be  reserved  for  the  matchless  warrior  that  Miranda  had  so 
often  proved  himself  to  be.  Bolivar  was  mortified  of  course ; 
but  he  was  bound  to  obey  his  superior,  and  to  Porto  Cabello 
he  went.  Meanwhile  Miranda  marched  at  the  head  of  an 
army  of  twelve  thousand  men  against  Monteverde,  who  had 


THE    REVOLT   AGAINST    SPAIN  405 

with  him  but  a  handful,  comparatively;   and  prepared  to 
show  the  world  how  a  great  soldier  can  fight. 

Monteverde  had  less  experience  in  the  field  than  his  dis- 
tinguished adversary;  but  he  was  not,  like  the  latter,  a  white 
rabbit,  and  his  idea  of  war  was  to  fight.  As  Miranda  with 
his  host  was  marching  to  meet  the  enemy,  some  trifling  vol- 
cano or  other,  in  the  remote  distance,  emitted  a  noise  which 
reached  the  generalissimo's  rabbit  ears,  and  caused  him 
to  suspect  that  an  enemy  had  fired  a  gun !  A  gun  meant 
danger.  Miranda  instantly  commanded  the  army  to  halt. 
If  that  gun  had  been  nearer,  and  had  contained  a  bullet, 
Miranda's  life  might  have  been  in  peril.  And  what  waa 
that  smoke  in  the  distance.  After  a  long  and  agitated  pause, 
report  was  brought  that  the  smoke  and  the  noise  had  both 
a  natural  origin,  wholly  disconnected  with  the  enemy. 
Should  the  army  continue  its  march?  Miranda  was  doubt- 
ful as  to  that.  There  was  no  telling  what  might  happen; 
Monteverde  must  be  somewhere  over  yonder.  At  length  he 
reluctantly  permitted  his  troops  to  move  forward  a  little. 
By  this  time  not  a  few  of  his  men  had  begun  to  lose  faith 
in  the  venerable  Apostle  of  Liberty,  and  there  were  deser- 
tions, which  distressed  Miranda  exceedingly.  So  distressed 
did  he  become,  that,  instead  of  any  longer  advancing,  he 
retreated.  He  came  across  the  town  of  Maracay  in  the 
course  of  this  flight  from  nothing,  and  ensconced  himself 
there,  announcing  to  his  astonished  army  that  the  campaign 
would  "henceforth"  be  a  defensive  one.  But  Maracay,  it 
seems,  was  not  defensive  enough ;  the  hero  fell  back  to  La 
Victoria,  which  was  as  far  as  he  could  go.  Monteverde 
made  a  demonstration,  which  some  of  the  patriot  soldiers 
repulsed;  and  Miranda  was  besought  to  follow  up  this  ad- 
vantage ;  but  he  utterly  declined  to  do  anything  of  the  kind. 
Meanwhile  came  an  urgent  message  from  Bolivar  in  Porto 
Cabello,  announcing  that  the  fortress  was  threatened  by  the 
enemy,  and  that  it  was  totally  without  defenders,  though 
full  of  valuable  military  stores,  which  would  fall  into  the 
enemy's  hands,  should  they  attack.  Would  Miranda  send 


406  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

a  few  of  his  twelve  thousand  men  to  secure  the  place? — Mi- 
randa would  not;  he  thought  he  had  too  few  soldiers,  as  it 
was,  to  defend  him.  The  next  thing  he  heard  was  that  the 
prisoners  at  Porto  Cabello  had  broken  loose,  joined  a  royal- 
ist force,  and  turned  the  guns  of  the  fort  on  the  harbor  and 
the  town,  and  had  both  ships  and  citizens  at  their  mercy. 
Bolivar,  with  forty  faithful  men,  had  attempted  to  defend 
the  place;  but  when  news  arrived  that  Monteverde  was 
marching  against  him,  the  faithful  forty  gave  up  the  strug- 
gle, and  departed  each  his  own  way;  nothing  was  left  for 
Bolivar  but  surrender  or  flight ;  he  had  no  idea  of  surrender- 
ing, so  he  jumped  aboard  a  brig  and  was  off  to  La  Guayra. 
Just  a  year,  to  a  day,  had  passed  since  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  at  Caracas.  Miranda,  shivering  in  his  quar- 
ters, began  to  think,  probably,  that  those  London  lodgings 
had  their  merits  after  all.  But  his  troubles  were  still  on  the 
rise ;  report  came  that  an  army  of  freed  slaves  was  heading 
for  Caracas.  Miranda  was  now  ready  for  anything — always 
excepting  a  fight! 

It  is  said  that  the  devil  always  appears  to  a  man  when  he 
is  ready  to  be  tempted.  The  devil  now  appeared  to  Miranda 
in  the  guise  of  a  certain  reputed  patriot  named  Don  Antonio 
Fernandez  de  Leon,  and  addressed  him  as  follows:  "You 
see  where  you  stand;  Caracas  is  in  ruins  and  threatened 
with  attack;  Porto  Cabello  is  in  the  enemy's  hands;  the 
population  is  quelled  by  Monteverde  and  the  earthquake. 
You  cannot  contend  against  Spain.  Why  not  end  this 
fratricidal  war  by  proposing  an  honorable  peace  ?  I 
will  give  you  the  means  of  getting  safely  away;  and 
I  will  myself  arrange  the  terms  with  Monteverde.  You 
have  no  time  to  consider;  it  is  now  or  never.  What 
do  you  say'?" 

Miranda  cleared  his  throat,  and  replied  in  a  feeble  voice 
that  he  was  "willing."  And  the  wretched  creature  at- 
tempted to  defend  his  cowardice  by  declaring  that  Bolivar's 
loss  of  Porto  Cabello  proved  him  to  be  a  traitor.  It  seemed 
that  there  was  to  be  no  infamy  of  which  the  Apostle  of  Lib- 


THE    REVOLT    AGAINST    SPAIN  407 

erty  was  not  to  be  guilty.  Monteverde  in  due  time  dictated 
terms  to  Miranda,  who  accepted  them ;  and  the  Republic  of 
Venezuela  was  apparently  a  thing  of  the  past. 

Miranda  made  his  way  to  La  Guayra,  where  he  met 
Bolivar  and  a  few  other  patriots.  He  had  intended  to  set 
sail  that  night,  and  the  ship  lay  ready  in  the  harbor;  but, 
at  the  suggestion  of  the  patriots,  he  consented  to  stay  on 
shore  till  the  morning.  It  had  been  determined  to  arrest 
him.  At  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  Miranda  being  then 
asleep,  a  party  of  men  entered  his  room,  wakened  him,  and 
bade  him  dress  and  follow  them.  They  escorted  him  to  Fort 
San  Carlos,  where  he  was  locked  up  in  a  cell.  The  reason 
of  this  action  was  that  they  believed,  not  without  reason, 
that  Miranda  was  a  traitor,  and  intended  to  betray  the  pa- 
triots to  Monteverde.  He  had  not  ratified  the  treaty  with 
his  signature;  the  treaty  contained  a  passage  promising  par- 
don to  all  who  had  taken  part  in  the  revolution ;  if  he  had 
left  the  country  without  signing,  Bolivar  and  all  the  rest  of 
the  patriots  would  have  been  liable  fc>  execution.  They  had 
hopes  and  purposes  for  the  future,  and  did  not  regard  the 
present  subjection  of  their  country  as  final.  But  all  was 
over  for  Miranda. 

It  is  impossible  to  excuse  this  man  for  what  he  did  and 
left  undone;  but  we  need  not  follow  him  with  reproaches; 
for  his  punishment  was  great.  He  was  passed  on  from  one 
prison  to  another;  the  Spaniards  got  hold  of  him;  he  was 
taken  to  Porto  Rico  and  from  there  to  Cadiz  in  Spain,  where 
a  British  officer  saw  him,  "tied  to  a  wall,  with  a  chain  about 
his  neck,  like  a  dog."  He  lingered  four  or  five  years,  dying 
on  the  14th  of  July,  1816.  He  could  have  made  himself  the 
greatest  hero  of  South  America,  had  he  used  the  materials 
which  were  intrusted  to  his»  hands.  But  he  was  an  empty 
windbag;  a  man  with  no  heart,  no  courage,  and  no  reality. 
He  talked  and  vaunted  himself  until  the  moment  for  prov- 
ing himself  came;  then  he  collapsed  like  a  pricked  bubble, 
and  there  was  nothing  left.  His  is  a  pitiable  story;  but  it 
lacks  the  dignity  of  tragedy ;  and  his  conduct  cost  his  country 


408  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

years  of  anguish  and  thousands  of  lives.     Few  men  so  prom- 
inent have  been  so  thoroughly  disgraced. 

After  Miranda's  imprisonment,  Bolivar  fled  to  Curacoa, 
where  for  a  time  he  remained  as  a  refugee.  But  he  occupied 
his  time  in  devising  means  for  renewing  the  struggle;  he 
enlisted  other  refugees  in  Cartagena,  and  before  181 :}  was 
ready  to  make  his  new  attempt.  In  Cartagena  he  had  been 
assigned  to  the  command  of  a  little  station  called  Barranca, 
which  was  under  the  control  of  an  adventurer  called  Labutut. 
But  Bolivar  had  no  notion  of  settling  down  in  such  a  posi- 
tion, and  he  took  advantage  of  a  movement  which  was  on 
foot  to  march  against  Santa  Marta,  and  joined  himself  to  it, 
though  in  a  subordinate  position.  "I  disregarded  rank  and 
distinction,"  he  afterward  said,  "because  I  aspired  to  a  more 
honorable  destiny — to  shed  my  blood  for  the  liberty  of  my 
country."  The  Anglo-Saxon  is  inclined  to  smile  at  this  sort 
of  rodomontade;  but  after  all,  the  test  of  a  man  is  what  he 
does,  not  what  he  says;  and  Bolivar  did  enough  in  all  con- 
science to  justify  his  worst  extravagances  of  speech.  We 
must  allow  him  his  peculiarities;  they  did  no  harm,  and 
may,  at  the  time  and  place,  have  done  some  good.  Mean- 
while, in  spite  of  his  professed  willingness  to  play  second 
fiddle,  it  proved  impossible  to  keep  his  superior  ability  and 
dash  in  the  background.  He  became  the  soul  of  the  cam- 
paign. He  moved  quickly,  and  took  the  enemy  by  surprise. 
New  Granada  was  quick  to  give  him  the  recognition  which 
had  hitherto  been  denied  him  in  his  native  state.  He  was 
appointed  general,  and  the  small  force  with  which  he  had 
at  first  operated  increased  in  size,  till  it  merited  the  title  of 
an  army.  His  objective  point  was  now  Magdalena,  which 
was  held  by  the  Spaniards,  and  was  of  strategic  importance. 
He  captured  the  place,  and  advanced  into  the  interior,  driv- 
ing the  enemy  before  him.  The  Spaniards  had  declared 
that  flags  of  truce  would  not  be  respected;  but  Bolivar  had 
no  flags  of  truce  to  offer  them.  He  defeated  them  in  every 
engagement,  made  his  way  into  Venezuela,  and  on  the  6th 
of  August,  1813,  he  entered  Caracas  in  triumph.  He  was 


THE    REVOLT    AGAINST    SPAIN  409 

met  by  a  vast  crowd  of  enthusiastic  people,  estimated  at 
thirty  thousand,  who  welcomed  him  with  shouts  of  "Long 
live  the  savior  of  Venezuela!"  A  bevy  of  handsome  young 
women,  clad  in  white  and  carrying  laurel  crowns  in  their 
hands,  advanced  through  the  crowd  and  took  the  bridle  of 
his  horse.  Bolivar  dismounted,  and  was,  says  the  historian 
Larrazabel,  "almost  overwhelmed  by  the  crowns  cast  upon 
him.  The  people  wept  for  joy." 

lu  December  of  this  year  a  battle  took  place  between  three 
thousand  five  hundred  men  commanded  by  Bolivar,  and  a 
force  of  the  enemy,  on  the  field  of  Araure.  After  a  severe 
engagement,  when  the  Spaniards  seemed  to  be  having  the 
better  of  it,  Bolivar,  by  an  unexpected  diversion,  threw  them 
into  confusion,  and  completely  routed  them;  they  left  a  large 
quantity  of  arms  and  ammunition  behind  them,  and  three 
thousand  prisoners.  It  was  at  this  battle  that  the  incident 
occurred  which  gave  the  name  of  Conquerors  of  Araure  to  a 
regiment  which  had  fallen  into  disorder  at  a  critical  moment 
in  a  previous  engagement,  and  had  thereby  incurred  the 
reprobation  of  Bolivar.  Anxious  to  retrieve  their  reputa- 
tion, this  "Battalion  without  a  name,"  which  was  in  the 
centre  of  the  line  of  battle,  charged  headlong  upon  a  triple 
line  of  artillery,  infantry  and  cavalry,  and  captured  a  flag. 
Bolivar  witnessed  the  charge,  and  afterward  complimented 
them  upon  their  bravery,  and  bestowed  upon  them  the  title 
aforesaid.  "Whereupon,"  says  the  ingenuous  Larrazabel, 
"the  battalion  received  the  flag  from  the  hands  of  the  Lib- 
erator with  a  concert  of  joy  and  enthusiasm,  giving  vivas  to 
the  genius  of  victory!" 

But  notwithstanding  these  successes,  victory  was  far  from 
constant  to  the  patriots.  A  Spanish  general  named  Boves 
took  the  field  against  him,  and  after  devastating  the  coun- 
try, met  the  Liberator  at  La  Puerta  and  defeated  him. 
Boves'  policy  was  to  exterminate  all  South  Americans,  and 
his  army  ably  seconded  his  efforts.  "When  he  gained  a  vic- 
tory, Boves  would  remark  that  his  policy  had  been  success- 
ful ;  there  were  so  many  Americans  less  than  before  the 


410  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

battle.  And  when  he  was  defeated,  he  would  still  declare 
that  his  policy  was  victorious;  for  another  batch  of  Amer- 
icans had  been  slain.  And  Montalvo,  the  Spanish  war  min- 
ister, reported  of  him  that  "he  does  not  distinguish  between 
guilty  and  innocent — combatants  and  non-combatants.  All 
alike  are  killed  for  the  crime  of  being  born  in  America." 
In  a  massacre  at  Aragua  "children  were  murdered  on  the 
very  breasts  of  their  mothers :  the  same  knife  split  the  heads 
of  both.  Or  they  were  flayed  alive,  and  then  thrown  into 
poisonous  and  pestilential  swamps."  Thus  Boves  prepared 
the  way  for  his  remote  successor  and  rival,  Weyler. 

Bolivar,  after  this  reverse,  retired  to  New  Granada, 
where  he  raised  and  organized  a  new  army ;  but  he  fell  into 
disputes  and  difficulties  with  a  rival  chief,  Castillo,  and  in 
the  end  gave  up  his  command  to  General  Palacios  and  sailed 
for  Jamaica,  where  his  assassination  was  attempted  by  a 
negro.  But  it  so  happened  that  on  the  night  appointed  for 
the  deed,  another  person  slept  in  Bolivar's  bed;  and  the 
negro,  supposing  all  was  right,  drove  his  knife  through  the 
vitals  of  this  innocent  person,  and  departed  flushed  with 
the  pride  of  fancied  success.  Bolivar  was  not  born  to  die  in 
that  manner. 

He  was  already  plotting  another  blow  for  Venezuela.  "I 
want  to  see  America  the  greatest  nation  in  the  world,"  he 
said  at  this  time,  referring  of  course  to  America  below  the 
Isthmus.  "The  states  from  the  Isthmus  to  Guatemala  shall 
form  an  association.  This  magnificent  position  between  the 
two  oceans  will  make  it  the  emporium  of  the  world.  Its 
canals  will  shorten  the  distances  round  the  earth.  Let  the 
Isthmus  be  to  us  what  that  of  Corinth  was  to  the  Greeks. 
God  grant  we  may  one  day  convene  there  a  congress  of  rep- 
resentatives of  the  republics,  kingdoms  and  empires  to  dis- 
cuss peace  and  war  with  the  nations  of  the  globe!" 

Bolivar  visited  Haiti  and  made  the  acquaintance  of  the 
negro  patriot  Petion,  who  gave  him  help  in  fitting  out  his 
new  expedition,  and  advised  him,  as  a  first  step  after  landing 
in  his  country,  to  free  the  slaves,  "for  how  can  you  found 


THE    REVOLT    AGAINST    SPAIN  411 

a  republic  where  slavery  exists?" — advice  which  Bolivar  fol- 
lowed. "With  six  ships  and  a  hundred  and  fifty  men  he  set 
out  to  conquer  back  Venezuela  from  Spain  once  more.  He 
landed  at  Margarita,  where  he  had  the  fortune  to  capture  a 
couple  of  Spanish  vessels;  and  found  the  people  still  ready 
to  believe  in  him  and  follow  him.  But  he  returned  to  Petion 
for  more  aid;  and  it  was  not  until  the  1st  of  January,  1817, 
that  he  finally  landed  at  Barcelona,  never  more  to  be  driven 
from  the  country.  His  time  had  come  at  last. 


HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 


II 

THE  FINAL  STRUGGLE 

BARCELONA  is  a  small  town  at  the  foot  of  the  Mari- 
time Andes,  on  the  northern  coast  of  Venezuela. 
Bolivar  was  open  to  attack  here,  but  hoped  to  gather 
a  sufficient  force  from  various  parts  of  the  country  to  offer 
resistance.  His  plan  was  to  march  through  Santa  Fe  in 
Granada  to  Peru.  Marino,  a  patriot  general  who  was  oper- 
ating in  the  south,  gave  him  twelve  hundred  men ;  but  while 
the  liberating  army  was  penetrating  the  interior  by  way  of 
the  Orinoco,  a  Spanish  force  besieged  Barcelona,  captured  it, 
and  massacred  the  inhabitants.  Bolivar  and  Marino  had  a 
quarrel,  and  Piar,  another  patriot  general,  conspired  against 
him.  The  Spanish  general  Morillo  came  up  from  Santa  Fe 
intent  upon  annihilating  the  patriot  armies.  Piar  was  ar- 
rested by  Bolivar,  condemned  and  shot ;  but  there  is  no  doubt 
that  the  Liberator  regretted  the  necessity  for  this  action.  He 
now  convened  a  Council  of  State  at  Angostura,  which  pro- 
vided for  the  election  of  a  congress ;  this  congress,  meeting  on 
January  1,  1819,  elected  Bolivar  President  with  dictatorial 
powers.  The  general  opinion  was  that  a  policy  of  wearing 
out  the  enemy  was  most  advisable  for  the  patriots,  but  Boli- 
var was  not  of  a  temperament  to  carry  out  such  a  plan. 
"Fabius,"  he  remarked,  "was  prudent,  but  I  am  impetuous." 
He  resolved  to  lead  his  army  across  the  Andes  into  Vene- 
zuela, and  conquer  that  country,  already  so  often  conquered 
by  both  parties,  once  more.  The  crossing  of  the  mountains 
was  a  terrific  enterprise,  the  idea  of  which  had  perhaps  been 
suggested  to  Bolivar  by  the  example  of  Napoleon,  whose 
steps  we  have  seen  him  following  across  the  Alps.  He  set 
out  on  the  22d  of  June,  and  after  severe  hardships,  during 


THE    FINAL    STRUGGLE  413 

which  many  of  his  men  perished,  he  passed  the  lofty  crest 
of  the  frozen  mountains,  and  descended,  as  if  from  the  sky, 
into  the  plains  on  the  other  side,  where  he  was  joined  by  the 
army  of  Granada.  General  Barreiro  was  the  commander  of 
the  Spanish  troops;  the  antagonists  met  on  the  25th  of  July. 
With  Bolivar  ifc  was  a  question  of  conquer  or  die;  and  largely 
by  the  inspiration  of  his  personal  example,  he  kept  his  men 
to  their  work  until  the  Spaniards  fled  with  a  loss  of  five  hun- 
dred men.  The  victory  placed  Granada  at  his  back;  and 
the  really  wonderful  achievement  of  his  little  army  aroused 
great  enthusiasm.  Bolivar  pursued  the  remnant  of  Bar- 
reiro's  force,  which  at  length  turned  to  give  battle  again. 
The  Spaniards  had  three  thousand  regulars  to  Bolivar's  two 
thousand  volunteers;  but  there  was  more  dash  and  impet- 
uosity in  the  patriots'  ranks,  and  they  finally  drove  their 
enemy  with  great  slaughter,  capturing  many  prisoners,  Bar- 
reiro among  them.  The  Spanish  viceroy  was  at  this  time 
in  Bogota,  the  home  of  the  legendary  El  Dorado;  Bolivar 
pressed  on  thither,  but  the  viceroy  had  heard  the  news  and 
escaped.  Bolivar  occupied  the  city,  issued  his  proclamation, 
and  saw  himself  master  of  two  republics.  He  perceived  the 
advantage  of  uniting  them  in  one,  and  immediately  set  out 
for  Angostura — now  Ciudad  Bolivar,  just  south  of  the  Ori- 
noco. He  arrived  there  early  in  December,  and  on  the  14th 
of  that  month  he  met  Congress,  was  saluted  with  twenty- 
one  guns,  and  made  an  address.  After  briefly  describing 
what  he  and  his  army  had  accomplished,  and  eulogizing  the 
patriotism  of  the  inhabitants  of  New  Granada,  he  proposed 
the  union  of  that  country  with  Venezuela.  "It  is  the  vote," 
he  declared,  "of  the  citizens  of  both  countries,  and  it  is  the 
guarantee  of  the  liberty  of  South  America. ' ' 

Zea,  president  of  the  Congress,  replied  in  an  exalted  strain. 
"If  Quito,  Santa  Fe  and  Venezuela,"  said  he,  "are  joined 
in  one  single  republic,  who  can  calculate  the  power  and  pros- 
perity of  such  a  combination?  May  Heaven  bless  this  union, 
•whose  consummation  is  the  object  of  my  vigilance,  and  the 
desire  of  my  heart!"  Three  days  later  the  creation  of  the 


414  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

Republic  of  Colombia  was  approved  by  Congress,  and  Simon 
Bolivar  was  unanimously  chosen  its  Chief  Magistrate. 

Desultory  fighting  now  went  on  for  a  year  or  more,  when 
an  armistice  was  agreed  upon ;  upon  its  expiration,  in  March, 
1821,  Bolivar  informed  General  Torres,  who  had  taken  the 
place  of  Morillo,  that  he  was  about  to  attack  him.  He  had 
fifteen  thousand  men.  The  Spaniards  were  at  Carabobo, 
near  Valencia,  on  the  high  Andes.  Bolivar,  with  eight 
thousand  troops,  appeared  there  on  the  24th  of  June.  At 
a  council  of  war,  held  before  the  attack,  a  guide  informed 
him  that  there  was  a  little  known  footpath  by  which  a  body 
of  men  could  be  sent  to  turn  the  enemy's  right.  Bolivar 
intrusted  the  conduct  of  this  movement  to  General  Paez, 
who  was  supported  by  cavalry.  The  path  was  of  exceeding 
difficulty,  but  the  ascent  was  accomplished,  and  the  soldiers, 
falling  impetuously  upon  the  Spaniards,  carried  them  off 
their  feet,  and  chased  them  into  the  fort  of  Porto  Cabello. 
Paez,  who  was  a  llanero  (an  Indian  of  Apache  stock),  had 
already  achieved  distinction  in  war  as  a  cavalry  officer;  and 
for  this  exploit  he  was  presented  by  Congress  with  a  golden 
sword,  and  raised  to  the  rank  of  Major-General.  When, 
subsequently,  Venezuela  retired  from  the  republic  of  Colom- 
bia, Paez,  who  is  said  to  have  been  instrumental  in  that  se- 
cession, was  elected  its  president,  and  continued  in  office  for 
seventeen  years.  He  survived  till  1873,  and  died  in  New 
York. 

Bolivar  now  proceeded  to  Caracas,  which  he  once  more 
entered  in  triumph,  though  the  Spaniards  had  reduced  the 
city  to  desolation.  But  Bolivar  had  freed  the  northern 
states,  and  was  now  about  to  co-operate  to  secure  the  free- 
dom of  the  south. 

Argentina,  under  the  viceroyalty,  was  an  immense  terri- 
tory, now  divided  up  into  the  republics  of  Argentina,  Bolivia, 
Paraguay  and  the  Banda  Oriental  del  Uruguay.  In  1806, 
General  Beresford  captured  Buenos  Ay  res;  but  was  after- 
ward defeated  by  Linares.  Montevideo  was  taken  by  Sir 
Samuel  Auchmuty  in  1807;  but  Whitelock's  attempt  to  cap- 


THE   FINAL   STRUGGLE  415 

ture  Buenos  Ayres  the  following  year  was  unsuccessful. 
When  Joseph  was  raised  to  the  Spanish  throne,  the  people 
of  this  country  refused  allegiance  to  him,  and  in  1813  a  con- 
gress assembled  and  chose  Posadas  Dictator.  The  Uruguay- 
ans supported  Ferdinand ;  but  in  the  course  of  the  next  two 
or  three  years  the  cause  of  independence  gained  ground.  On 
the  9th  of  July,  1816,  the  independence  of  Argentina  was 
formally  declared,  with  Pueyrredon  for  president.  Para- 
guay, Uruguay  and  Bolivia  established  independent  govern- 
ments. Spain,  otherwise  occupied,  offered  little  resistance 
to  these  proceedings;  but  what  was  needed  was  a  supreme 
directing  mind  to  bring  these  new  states  into  some  sort  of 
political  accord  and  organization. 

The  occasion  produced  the  man,  in  the  person  of  Jose 
de  San  Martin.  He  was  born  in  Yapeyu  Missiones,  in  1778. 
He  was  educated  in  Spain,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty  took 
part  in  a  campaign  against  the  Moors.  He  met  Miranda 
in  Europe,  and  imbibed  from  him  the  conception  of  South 
American  liberty.  San  Martin  is,  upon  the  whole,  the  most 
commendable  figure  which  the  struggle  for  South  American 
independence  produced ;  if  his  genius  was  not  equal  to  Boli- 
var's, he  was  free  from  the  latter's  faults  of  commission  and 
omission.  He  was  not  so  headlong  a  believer  in  the  capacity 
of  men  for  self-government ;  but  he  was  singularly  free  from 
the  taint  of  personal  ambition,  and  his  life  was  passed  in  the 
work  of  liberating  his  countrymen.  He  died  in  voluntary 
poverty  and  retirement,  having  refused  Chili's  offer  of  ten 
thousand  ounces  of  gold.  In  person  he  is  described  as  tall 
and  well  formed,  and  of  soldierly  aspect;  his  complexion 
was  dark,  his  features  expressive,  his  hair  and  eyes  black. 
His  bearing  was  grave  and  courteous,  and  as  a  general  he 
was  cautious,  sure  and  resolute,  with  an  especial  talent  for 
organization. 

His  first  work  was  to  bring  the  military  resources  of  the 
country  into  effective  form.  His  trained  talents  were  soon 
apparent,  and  he  was  called  to  take  the  place  of  Belgrano, 
who  had  heretofore  been  the  chief  general  of  the  patriots. 


416  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

Under  his  influence  the  loyalty  to  Ferdinand  insensibly 
waned  and  the  idea  of  absolute  independence  gained  strength. 
San  Martin  had  early  formed  the  purpose  of  crossing  the 
Andes  and  aiding  in  the  liberation  of  Chili  and  Peru.  He 
got  the  appointment  of  governor  of  Cuzco,  and  the  work  of 
assembling  the  army  began  at  Mendoza,  at  the  foot  of  the 
Andes.  Sau  Martin's  plan  was  to  cross  not  by  the  road 
to  Upper  Peru',  but  by  the  Pass  of  Upsallata,  over  an  eleva- 
tion of  thirteen  thousand  feet.  But  for  the  present  he  kept 
his  designs  to  himself,  and  left  his  colleague,  General  Alvear, 
to  command  tne  Army  of  the  North,  while  he  himself  gave 
his  whole  attention  to  the  Andean  force. 

It  was  in  1814  that  he  was  made  governor  of  Cuzco.  He 
lived  with  great  simplicity,  and  returned  half  his  salary 
to  the  public  treasury.  As  a  disciplinarian  he  was  rigid, 
yet  he  was  rich  in  quiet  acts  of  kindness,  which  bound  his 
men  to  him.  The  material  for  an  army  in  this  Andean 
region  was  of  the  best;  rugged  mountaineers,  accustomed 
to  hardships,  and  indifferent  to  danger;  with  a  physical 
strength  which  was  not  without  its  value  in  that  compara- 
tively primitive  era  of  warfare.  The  expenses  of  the  army 
were  generously  subscribed  for ;  women  giving  their  jewels, 
and  men  denying  themselves  luxuries  for  the  cause.  There 
was  a  magnetism  in  the  leader  which  kept  enthusiasm 
awake.  Chili  had  already — as  we  shall  presently  see — been 
fighting  for  her  liberty,  and,  after  a  temporary  success,  had 
been  defeated;  and  Peru  was  also  in  sore  straits.  San  Mar- 
tin was  convinced  that,  if  he  could  rescue  Chili,  the  cause 
of  South  American  independence  would  be  won ;  Peru  could 
not  hold  out  against  a  victorious  army  approaching  from  the 
south.  By  degrees,  as  he  saw  his  army  assuming  form  and 
strength,  he  permitted  glimpses  of  his  designs  to  appear, 
and  the  grandeur  of  the  conception  stimulated  the  patriotism 
of  both  army  and  people;  while  the  discipline  which  San 
Martin  enforced  rendered  his  soldiers  the  most  formidable 
body  of  troops  that  had  ever  been  organized  for  battle  against 
the  Spaniards. 


THE   FINAL   STRUGGLE 

One  of  the  most  picturesque  and  singular  figures  of  this 
epoch  is  that  of  Luis  Beltran,  the  mendicant  friar,  who  was 
of  those  who  had  repudiated  the  commands  of  their  superiors 
at  the  time  of  the  reaction  against  Spanish  cruelties  at  Lima. 
He  was  a  native  of  Mendoza ;  and  though  vowed  to  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Church,  he  possessed  a  remarkable  mechanical 
talent,  and  was  free  of  the  forge;  so  that  he  was  given  the 
post  of  overseer  of  the  horse-shoeing  and  mechanical  depart- 
ments of  San  Martin's  army.  He  had  already  served  as  an 
artillerist  in  Chili,  and  when  the  patriots  were  defeated  there 
he  crossed  the  mountains  to  his  birthplace,  carrying  on  his 
sturdy  shoulders  a  bag  of  tools  which  he  had  made  him- 
self. In  addition  to  the  commission  already  mentioned, 
he  was  made  chaplain  of  the  army,  and  was  ordered  to 
establish  an  arsenal,  with  three  hundred  workmen  under 
him.  He  took  the  bells  from  the  church  belfries,  and 
melted  them  down  to  make  cannon;  and  in  1816  this 
modern  Vulcan  unfrocked  himself,  and  took  the  rank  of 
an  officer  of  artillery. 

On  the  17th  of  January,  1817,  San  Martin  held  a  review 
of  his  army,  preparatory  to  undertaking  his  march.  The 
women  of  Mendoza  presented  to  San  Martin  a  flag  which 
they  had  made,  bearing  the  emblem  of  the  sun.  The  gen- 
eral, standing  on  a  platform  in  the  square  of  Mendoza,  took 
the  flag  in  his  hands  and  called  on  the  crowd  to  behold  the 
"first  flag  of  independence  which  had  been  blessed  in  South 
America. "  Amid  cheers,  he  bade  his  soldiers  swear  to  mam- 
tain  it  through  all  perils.  This  flag  was  carried  along  the 
Pacific  coast  through  Chili  and  Peru,  and  after  sixty  years 
it  formed  the  funeral  pall  for  the  body  of  San  Martin  him- 
self. But  before  following  its  course,  we  must  pass  in  review 
the  events  which  had  occurred  on  the  western  slopes  of  the 
Andes  since  the  war  with  Spain  broke  out. 

In  1809,  the  general  sentiment  in  Chili  had  been  favor- 
able to  the  claims  of  Ferdinand ;  and  the  cabildo  took  counsel 
how  best  to  carry  on  government  during  his  exile.  Two 
parties  were  developed;  that  of  the  godos,  or  Spaniards, 


418  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

headed  by  the  president  and  supported  by  the  Audiencia, 
the  clergy  and  the  officers  of  government,  who  wished  the 
recognition  of  the  Spanish  juntas;  and  the  patriots,  who 
advocated  the  creation  of  a  junta  nacional  de  gobierno,  to 
rule  till  the  king  should  return.  The  leading  Chilian  families 
were  of  this  party,  and  they  were  denounced  as  rebels  by  the 
other.  In  1810  several  leading  patriots  were  arrested  by 
order  of  the  captain-general,  Carrasco;  the  people  demanded 
their  release,  but  they  were  hurried  off  to  Valparaiso.  This 
led  to  greater  agitation,  which  the  news  from  Buenos  Ayres 
strengthened.  Carrasco  finally  was  compelled  to  resign,  and 
Mateo  de  Toro  Zambrano,  an  old  soldier  of  eighty,  was  made 
president  in  his  stead.  He  was  a  moderate  revolutionist, 
and  was  pledged  to  oppose  the  French  regency,  and  to  re- 
serve Chili  for  Ferdinand.  But  finally  the  more  radical 
element  gained  him  over,  and  he  consented  to  the  calling 
of  a  congress,  which  created  a  junta  de  gobierno  on  the  18th 
of  September,  1810 — the  day  quoted  as  that  of  the  beginning 
of  Chilian  independence. 

A  lawyer,  Dr.  Rozas,  was  at  the  head  of  the  junta;  he 
had  already  distinguished  himself  in  revolutionary  affairs. 
He  began  the  organization  of  a  military  force,  and  opened 
the  ports  of  Chili  to  free  commerce.  The  office  of  captain- 
general  was  abolished ;  and  arrangements  were  made  for  the 
election  of  the  congress.  During  this  election,  an  armed 
clash  took  place  between  troops  under  command  of  Figueroa, 
and  a  body  of  patriots  led  by  Carrera,  in  which  the  latter 
were  successful,  and  Figueroa  was  afterward  executed  as 
a  conspirator.  The  congress  assembled,  and  passed  laws  in 
the  public  interest,  abolishing  many  abuses,  and  establishing 
military  schools.  A  revolutionary  newspaper  was  published 
at  this  time,  edited  by  the  friar  Camilo  Henriquez.  But  dis- 
sensions in  the  congress  itself  broke  out;  the  election  had  not 
secured  an  even  representation  from  the  different  parts  of 
the  colony ;  and  the  Santiago  district  was  conservative,  while 
Concepcion  and  the  south  were  radical.  Rozas,  leader  of 
the  radical  element,  finally  withdrew  to  Concepcion,  and  the 


THE    FINAL   STRUGGLE  419 

Santiago  faction  thereupon  named  a  new  junta  composed  of 
its  supporters. 

Meanwhile  Carrera  and  his  friends  were  plotting  to  gain 
control  of  the  government.  He  forced  Congress  to  select 
a  new  junta,  by  the  aid  of  which  he  expelled  the  Santiago 
deputies  and  put  radicals  in  their  place,  with  supreme  power 
tor  himself.  Rozas  at  the  same  time  effected  a  revolution  at 
Concepcion,  and  established  a  radical  junta  there.  Radicals 
were  now  in  control  of  the  country;  but  they  soon  turned 
against  each  other,  and  Carrera  and  Rozas  led  the  warring 
factions.  For  a  while  Bernado  O'Higgins  averted  strife  be- 
tween the  two ;  but  the  division  of  sentiment  remained.  The 
country  was  disorganized;  Valdivia  and  Chiloe  gave  their 
adherence  to  the  viceroy  of  Peru;  and  Santiago  and  Con- 
cepcion were  arrayed  under  Carrera  and  Rozas  respectively. 
Carrera  improved  an  opportunity  to  stir  up  a  riot  in  Concep- 
cion, and  succeeded  in  procuring  the  banishment  of  Rozas  to 
Mendoza,  where  he  soon  after  died.  But  though  this  gave 
Carrera  undivided  authority,  Chili  was  far  from  being  tran- 
quil. To  allay  trouble,  he  put  forward  a  constitution  in 
1812,  which  professed  to  control  the  executive  by  another 
body  and  proclaimed  various  reforms.  It  had  no  perma- 
nent value,  but  at  this  juncture  danger  from  another  quar- 
ter took  the  minds  of  the  revolutionists  off  these  squabbles 
of  their  own. 

Abascal,  viceroy  of  Peru,  learning  that  Carrera  was  as- 
suming illicit  powers  in  Santiago,  resolved  to  suppress  him. 
He  sent  General  Pareja  with  a  force  of  two  thousand  men 
to  Concepcion,  where  he  was  reinforced  by  the  garrison  of 
that  place,  which  gave  him  four  thousand  in  all.  A  body 
of  Araucanians  also  joined  him,  and  he  deemed  himself  able 
to  do  what  he  pleased  with  Chili.  The  Carreras — Miguel 
and  Juan — got  together  twelve  thousand  untrained  men,  and 
marched  against  him.  Three  actions  took  place  in  quick 
succession;  in  the  two  first,  the  patriots  drove  the  enemy; 
in  the  third  there  was  a  stubborn  fight,  in  which  both 
sides  lost  heavily;  but  the  royalists  were  finally  obliged  to 


420  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

give  way  before  superior  numbers.  They  took  refuge  in 
Chilian  and  made  preparations  to  resist  the  siege  which  was 
begun ;  Pareja  died,  and  was  succeeded  in  the  command  by 
Colonel  Sanchez,  under  whom  the  Spaniards  made  a  long 
defence.  Upon  the  whole,  the  royalists  fared  very  badly  in 
this  campaign ;  except  the  force  in  Chilian,  they  were  driven 
out  of  the  country.  On  the  other  hand,  there  was  dissension 
between  the  Carreras  and  the  junta;  which  ended  in  the 
former  being  displaced,  and  the  command  of  the  army  given 
to  O'Higgins,  then  under  forty  years  of  age;  he  was  the 
natural  son  of  Ambrosio.  He  had  been  educated  in  Eng- 
land, and,  on  his  return  to  Chili,  lived  on  his  estates;  but 
when  the  revolution  broke  out,  he  declared  in  its  favor. 
He  won  the  title  of  El  primer  Soldado  de  Chili.  "When  the 
Carreras  were  deposed,  they  started  for  Santiago  to  plan 
new  schemes,  but  were  captured  on  the  way  by  the  Span- 
iards and  taken  to  Chilian.  About  the  same  time,  royalist 
reinforcements  arrived  from  Peru,  giving  the  Spaniards  the 
advantage.  A  new  campaign  was  begun  with  great  energy 
by  General  Gainza,  who  had  brought  the  reinforcements. 

A  brush  with  the  Chilians  under  O'Higgins  and  his  lieu- 
tenant Mackenna  resulted  in  the  discomfiture  of  the  Span- 
iards on  the  19th  of  March,  1814,  at  a  place  near  Chilian. 
Gainza,  however,  pushed  on  toward  Santiago,  with  O'Hig- 
gins after  him;  and  the  two  armies  encamped  on  opposite 
sides  of  the  River  Maule,  in  sight  of  each  other.  O'Higgiiis 
left  his  camp  standing,  in  charge  of  a  small  force,  spread  out 
so  as  to  seem  large ;  and  with  his  main  force  forded  the  river 
at  night,  and  appeared  in  a  strong  position  for  attack  in  the 
morning.  Gainza  was  obliged  to  retreat,  and  O'Higgins  was 
able  to  open  communications  with  Santiago,  and  to  cut  the 
Spanish  line  of  communications  with  Chilian. 

The  war,  however,  had  become  wearisome  to  the  Chilians, 
and  the  government  of  the  junta  became  unsatisfactory.  It 
was  deposed,  and  a  former  governor  of  Valparaiso,  Colonel 
de  Lastra,  was  invited  to  become  supreme  director — another 
of  the  amusing  variations  of  title  by  which  these  unbaked 


THE    FINAL    STRUGGLE  421 

democrats  tried  to  avoid  betraying  to  themselves  that  what 
they  really  wanted  was  a  bona-fide  king.  Lastra  was  a 
worthy  gentleman,  well  thought  of  on  all  hands;  and  the 
best  thing  he  could  think  of  doing  to  improve  the  situation 
was  to  propose  a  peace.  The  terms  suggested  were  that 
Gainza  should  return  to  Peru  within  two  months,  while 
Chili  agreed  to  maintain  a  government  which  acknowl- 
edged allegiance  to  Spain.  Members  were  also  to  be  sent 
from  Chili  to  the  Spanish  Cortes.  Hostages  were  exchanged 
between  the  contracting  parties,  and  the  treaty  was  con- 
cluded; but  on  the  part  of  Spain  it  was  but  a  pretext  to 
gain  time. 

Nor  did  Chili  herself  pay  much  respect  to  its  provisions. 
The  Carreras,  liberated  by  its  provisions,  repaired  to  Santiago 
and  restored  the  deposed  junta,  abolishing  at  the  same  tune 
the  office  of  Colonel  Lastra.  But  this  act  proved  unpopular, 
and  O'Higgins  was  summoned  to  the  capital.  He  came, 
with  an  army  at  his  back;  Carrera  met  him  with  another  at 
Maypo,  and  there  was  an  indecisive  conflict  between  the  two 
parties  of  the ' '  patriots. ' '  A  more  serious  battle  was  prevented 
by  the  news  that  the  viceroy  of  Peru  had  repudiated  the 
treaty,  and  that  a  Spanish  force  under  Osorio  and  Mariano, 
one  of  the  best  soldiers  of  the  royalists,  was  then  on  the  march 
for  Chili.  The  quondam  antagonists  were  united  by  the 
common  danger,  and  advanced  against  the  Spaniards,  whom 
O'Higgins  encountered  at  the  River  Cachapoal;  he  was 
driven  back,  and  was  again  worsted  at  Rancagua,  Carrera 
giving  no  assistance.  Of  two  thousand  patriots  all  but  three 
hundred  perished.  Carrera  fled  to  Buenos  Ayres,  O'Higgins 
to  Mendoza,  while  the  victorious  Osorio  entered  Santiago 
triumphant.  He  distributed  punishments  of  all  degrees  of 
severity  right  and  left ;  and  for  more  than  two  years  Chili 
experienced  all  the  rigors  of  a  royalist  government. 

Had  Chili  been  treated  with  consideration  and  justice, 
she  might  have  remained  loyal,  for  there  was  a  large  party 
opposed  to  a  republic;  but  the  severity  was  so  great  that 
loyalists  became  republicans.  By  1817,  all  was  ready  for 


422  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

another  revolt;  and  it  was  at  this  juncture  that  help  came 
from  across  the  Andes;  for  Buenos  Ayres  perceived  that  if 
she  did  not  help  Chili  that  country's  fate  would  be  her 
own;  they  must  stand  or  fall  together.  And  San  Martin 
was  prepared  to  bring  the  needed  succor  in  person. 

San  Martin's  principal  force  was  cavalry,  in  which  ser- 
vice his  gauchos  were  eminent.  He  made  a  feint  of  crossing 
the  mountains  by  way  of  Planchon,  thereby  inducing  the 
royalist  army,  which  was  now  under  the  leadership  of  Cap- 
tain-General Marco  del  Ponte,  to  concentrate  at  Talca ;  while 
San  Martin  actually  crossed  by  the  apparently  impossible 
route  of  Putaendo  and  Cuevas.  San  Martin  led  his  army 
in  person ;  each  horseman  carried,  besides  his  bag  of  provis- 
ions, his  musket,  cartridge-pouch  and  poncho,  and  nothing 
else.  The  very  shortness  of  supplies  caused  the  march  to  be 
made  with  extraordinary  speed ;  three  hundred  miles  of  the 
most  preposterous  climbing  and  sliding  were  accomplished 
in  less  than  a  fortnight.  The  army,  foot  and  horse,  to  the 
number  of  four  thousand,  collected  at  Villa  Nueva,  and  on 
the  7th  of  February  had  their  first  skirmish  with  the  ene- 
my's outposts  at  Chacabuco.  Driving  these  before  them, 
and  advancing  through  a  country  whose  inhabitants  greeted 
them  with  joy  and  thrust  food  into  their  hands,  they  came 
upon  the  enemy,  to  the  number  of  two  thousand,  strongly 
posted  near  Aconcagua.  The  latter  had  neglected  to  in- 
form themselves  as  to  the  strength  of  the  patriots ;  thinking 
it  impossible  that  any  infantry  could  have  arrived  so  soon, 
they  arranged  their  force  only  to  repel  cavalry.  Too  late 
they  discovered  their  error.  The  whole  patriot  army  rushed 
upon  them,  O'Higgins  leading  the  cavalry  charge,  and  the 
enemy  fled  in  total  rout,  hardly  waiting  to  fire  a  shot.  They 
were  pursued,  and  could  not  be  rallied;  the  officers  escaped 
to  Valparaiso,  where  many  were  captured.  The  ease  of  the 
victory  surprised  the  patriot  leaders,  and  expecting  a  more 
resolute  opposition,  they  advanced  with  caution.  But  San- 
tiago had  been  abandoned,  and  was  entered  by  San  Martin 
on  February  15,  1817.  Another  junta  was  formed;  but  San 


THE    FINAL    STRUGGLE  423 

Martin  refused  to  be  made  supreme  director,  having  an  eye 
on  an  invasion  of  Peru.  O'Higgins,  therefore,  assumed 
that  dignity,  and  complete  independence  of  Spain  was  de- 
clared. Numbers  of  prominent  royalists,  who  had  been  in- 
strumental in  the  cruelties  practiced  upon  the  Chilians,  were 
executed  or  otherwise  punished.  An  army  was  sent  against 
Ordonez  in  the  south,  and  he  was  defeated  and  shut  up  in 
Talcahuano.  All  Chili  was  now  practically  in  the  patriots' 
hands. 

But  three  thousand  five  hundred  veteran  soldiers  had 
arrived  from  Spain,  and  the  Peruvian  viceroy  Abascal  set 
about  dispatching  another  army  to  the  new  republic.  Its 
command  was  given  to  Osorio.  He  landed  at  Talcahuano, 
then  the  last  royalist  foothold  in  the  country,  in  the  first 
days  of  1817.  His  unexpected  arrival  checked  San  Martin's 
preparations  for  invading  Peru.  Osorio  advanced  rapidly 
toward  Santiago  with  three  thousand  four  hundred  veterans ; 
San  Martin,  uniting  his  forces,  had  an  army  more  than 
twice  as  numerous,  but  comparatively  undisciplined.  The 
two  armies  met  first  near  Talca ;  and  while  the  patriots  were 
executing  a  manoeuvre,  Ordonez  fell  upon  them  impetuously, 
and  in  fifteen  minutes  had  them  on  the  run.  San  Martin  fell 
back  on  San  Fernando  with  the  right  wing;  O'Higgins  was 
wounded,  and  with  difficulty  reached  Santiago.  He  was 
soon  joined  there  by  San  Martin,  who  revived  the  courage 
of  the  people  by  his  assured  bearing.  During  the  next  three 
weeks,  by  enormous  efforts,  the  army  was  collected  and  re- 
habilitated, and  took  up  a  position  nine  miles  from  Santiago, 
near  the  Maypo.  The  royalists  appeared  on  the  5th  of  April, 
and  massed  themselves  in  a  formidable  line,  a  mile  in  length. 
Each  side  numbered  about  five  thousand  men.  The  battle 
began  shortly  before  noon  with  artillery,  and  soon  all  the 
troops  were  engaged,  the  fiercest  fighting  being  round  a 
farmhouse,  which  was  often  taken  and  retaken.  Osorio 
gained  during  the  day,  and  by  evening  it  seemed  that  the 
patriots  must  be  defeated.  But  as  the  famous  Burgos  regi- 
ment, on  the  roytilist  right  wing,  was  forming  in  square  to 


424  HISTORY   OF   SPANISH   AMERICA 

charge,  there  was  a  momentary  disorder,  which  was  taken 
advantage  of  by  Colonel  O'Brien  of  the  patriot  cavalry,  who 
charged  with  the  reserves  and  drove  the  Burgos  regiment 
headlong.  At  the  same  time  the  left  wing  of  the  royalists 
gave  way,  and  the  centre  soon  followed.  More  than  two 
thousand  of  Osorio's  troops  were  killed  and  wounded,  and 
the  rest  were  made  prisoners,  with  the  exception  of  Osorio 
himself  and  a  few  of  his  officers,  who  escaped  to  Peru.  It 
was  a  decisive  and  most  important  victory;  it  freed  Chili, 
broke  the  power  of  Abascal  in  Peru,  and  showed  San  Martin 
to  be  the  best  general  in  South  America.  He  immediately 
returned  to  Mendoza  to  begin  recruiting  a  fresh  army  for  the 
Peruvian  invasion.  Meanwhile  a  couple  of  war  vessels  were 
secured  as  the  nucleus  of  a  Chilian  navy,  and  in  an  action 
with  two  Spanish  men-of-war  soon  afterward  the  latter  were 
nearly  captured,  and  were  put  to  flight.  Another  ship,  named 
the  "San  Martin,"  with  sixty-four  guns,  was  then  purchased, 
and  the  fleet  was  put  under  the  orders  of  Commodore  Blanco 
Encelada.  A  consignment  of  Spanish  troops,  with  convoys, 
had  been  sent  out  from  Spain,  but  had  become  scattered  by 
a  storm,  and  a  frigate  and  a  transport  put  into  Concepcion. 
The  "San  Martin"  attacked  the  frigate  and  captured  her; 
the  transport,  with  three  others,  was  captured ;  and  before 
the  end  of  1818,  the  Chilian  navy  numbered  some  fifteen 
ships.  Lord  Thomas  Cochrane  was  invited  to  command  it, 
and  he  promptly  set  to  work  to  man  and  equip  it.  The 
design  was,  of  course,  to  open  the  way  for  the  invasion  of 
Peru.  In  January  of  1819  he  was  ready,  and  set  sail  for 
Callao.  For  a  year  he  harried  the  Peruvian  coast,  and  did 
great  service  for  Chili,  which  was  not  adequately  recognized 
at  the  time.  In  February,  by  a  brilliant  action,  he  took  the 
town  of  Valdivia.  "We  know  something  of  the  Spanish  ar- 
tillery practice;  and  this  may  partly  explain  how  the  gal- 
lant Englishman  succeeded  in  the  teeth  of  seemingly  over- 
whelming difficulties.  Though  exposed  to  a  tremendous 
fire  for  many  hours,  he  lost  but  seven  killed  and  nineteen 
wounded.  Valdivia  was  a  Gibraltar  in*  strength,  having 


THE    FINAL    STRUGGLE  425 

no  less  than   fifteen   forts   and  one   hundred  and  twenty- 
eight  guns. 

All  this  while  O'Higgins,  despite  many  obstacles,  was 
governing  Chili  with  a  strong  and  able  hand,  and  great  ef- 
forts were  made  to  raise  a  force  to  accompany  San  Martin 
in  his  invasion  of  Peru.  O'Higgins  showed  himself  quite  as 
skilful  a  diplomatist  and  statesman  as  he  was  a  soldier,  and 
by  1820  Chili  and  Buenos  Ayres  were  in  accord,  and  their 
resources  were  thoroughly  brought  out.  The  executive  de- 
partment shifted  its  place  to  Valparaiso,  as  being  a  more 
convenient  point  from  which  to  co-operate  with  the  land  and 
naval  forces;  and  in  spite  of  the  lack  of  funds  in  the  country, 
the  expedition  was  ready  by  August  15th.  The  army  em- 
barked at  Valparaiso,  and  extra  arms  were  taken  to  equip 
the  volunteers  who  were  expected  to  join  in  Peru.  Fifteen 
transports  and  eight  warships  conveyed  the  army  of  about 
five  thousand  men.  On  the  7th  of  September  they  got  ashore 
at  Pisco,  the  Spaniards  falling  back  on  Lima.  Colonel  Are- 
nales  went  forward  with  a  thousand  men,  and  an  armistice  was 
agreed  upon,  to  discuss  possible  terms  of  peace;  but  San  Mar- 
tin would  consent  to  nothing  short  of  complete  independence, 
and  nothing  was  concluded.  After  the  expiration  of  the  ar- 
mistice, Admiral  Cochrane  resumed  his  aggressive  campaign 
along  the  coast ;  and  among  other  exploits  he  performed  the 
daring  feat  of  cutting  out  the  Spanish  frigate  "Esmaralda" 
from  her  berth  in  the  harbor  of  Callao,  and  carrying  her  off 
in  triumph  under  the  fire  of  the  shore  batteries.  Cochrane's 
policy  was  always  aggressive,  while  that  of  San  Martin  was 
to  delay,  and  give  the  enemy  a  chance  to  give  up  without 
bloodshed.  Both  policies  were  right;  for  Cochrane,  by  the 
prestige  which  he  gave  the  patriot  cause,  induced  the  Peru- 
vian population  to  declare  in  favor  of  San  Martin,  and  dis- 
couraged the  royalists;  while  San  Martin  kept  his  army 
intact,  and  avoided  the  bitterness  which  great  bloodshed 
would  have  caused.  Months  passed  in  this  way,  and  on  the 
6th  of  July  the  royalist  authorities  quitted  Lima  and  took 
refuge  in  Cuzco;  San  Martin  took  possession,  and  proclaimed 


426  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

Peru's  independence  on  the  28th.  He  assumed  the  title  of 
Protector  of  Peru,  appointed  a  governing  staff,  and  the  Span- 
iards soon  after  peacefully  evacuated  the  country.  The 
following  year  he  made  his  preparations  to  capture  Guaya- 
quil ;  but  Bolivar,  who  had  invaded  Quito,  was  now  heading 
in  the  same  direction;  and  an  interview  between  the  two 
men  took  place. 

Though  Bolivar  had  fought  more  battles  than  San  Mar- 
tin, and  had  consequently  made  a  more  sensational  and  con- 
spicuous record,  he  was  not  so  accomplished  a  soldier,  or  so 
trustworthy  a  man;  but  merit  does  not  always  tell  in  national 
affairs.  The  very  greatness  of  San  Martin,  however,  enabled 
him  to  perceive  that  Bolivar  would  have  a  better  chance  of 
uniting  the  country  than  he;  and  he  had  the  magnanimity 
to  waive  recognition  of  his  own  vast  services  in  favor  of  his 
rival.  The  two  men  met  at  Guayaquil  on  the  25th  of  July, 
and  had  a  private  interview.  What  they  said  to  each  other 
is  not  known;  but  the  result  was  that  San  Martin  handed 
over  the  government  to  Bolivar,  and  resolved  to  leave  South 
America.  There  was  a  grand  banquet  and  a  ball,  which 
San  Martin  rather  deprecated,  but  which  Bolivar,  who  loved 
to  glitter  before  the  public  eye,  rejoiced  in.  San  Martin's 
toast  at  the  banquet  was,  "To  the  speedy  end  of  the  war; 
to  the  organization  of  the  republics,  and  to  the  health  of  the 
Liberator  of  Colombia."  To  Bolivar  he  afterward  wrote, 
"I  have  convened  the  congress  of  Peru,  and  I  shall  go  to 
Chili  the  day  after  its  assembling,  for  I  believe  that  my 
presence  is  the  only  obstacle  in  the  way  of  your  occupying 
Peru."  In  his  address  of  abdication  he  added,  "The  pres- 
ence of  a  fortunate  general  in  the  country  which  he  has 
conquered  is  detrimental  to  the  state.  I  have  won  the  inde- 
pendence of  Peru,  and  I  now  cease  to  be  a  public  man." 
Speaking,  privately,  of  Bolivar,  he  said,  "He  is  the  most 
extraordinary  character  of  South  America;  one  to  whom 
difficulties  but  add  strength." 

History  records  few  acts  of  so  great  abnegation  and  true 
patriotism.     San  Martin  went  to  Europe  with  his  daughter 


THE    FINAL    STRUGGLE  437 

Mercedes,  and  for  nearly  thirty  years  dwelt  there  in  con- 
tented obscurity  and  poverty.  But  after  his  death,  South 
America  partly  realized  the  nobility  of  his  character,  and 
caused  his  body  to  be  brought  to  Buenos  Ayres,  where  it  lies 
to-day  in  a  tomb,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  impressive 
in  the  world.  An  urn  or  sarcophagus  of  black  marble,  sur- 
mounted by  a  sword  and  mantle,  with  a  laurel  wreath  aud 
a  military  hat  of  bronze,  is  supported  on  a  massive  pedestal 
of  red  marble;  round  whose  base  stand  three  superb  female 
figures,  representing  the  Argentine  Republic,  Chili  and  Peru. 
It  is  a  splendid  monument;  but  the  man's  deeds  are  a  better 
one,  and  more  enduring. 

Bolivar  entered  Lima  in  September,  1823,  and  was  made 
dictator  of  Peru.  General  Miller,  an  Englishman,  was  his 
chief  of  staff,  and  Sucre,  whom  he  dubbed  "the  soul  of  the 
Army,"  was  his  alter  ego  in  battle.  It  was  Sucre  who, 
after  many  other  distinguished  services,  won  the  battle  of 
Pichincha,  giving  Ecuador  to  the  patriots.  The  liberating 
army,  numbering  ten  thousand  men,  assembled  at  Huarez, 
where  the  final  campaign  was  prepared  for :  for  the  Spanish 
viceroy  was  to  make  another  attempt  to  win  back  the 
country.  The  Spanish  army  counted  about  thirteen  thou- 
sand men.  After  a  preliminary  skirmish  at  Junin,  in 
which  the  patriots  had  the  advantage,  Bolivar  left  the 
decisive  battle  to  the  care  of  his  subordinates,  and  re- 
turned to  Lima  to  attend  to  the  affairs  of  state.  The  battle 
took  place  on  the  plain  and  surrounding  hills  of  Aya- 
cucho,  the  royalists  being  in  the  plain,  the  patriots  on  the 
summit  of  the  ridge.  The  viceroy  commanded  in  person. 
Miller  led  the  van  of  the  patriots.  On  the  morning  of  Decem- 
ber 4th  Sucre  briefly  addressed  his  men,  and  then  ordered 
General  Cordova  to  charge.  There  were  no  manoeuvres 
in  this  conflict;  the  issue  was  never  in  doubt  after  the  first 
charge,  and  within  an  hour  the  royalist  army  was  utterly 
routed  and  in  flight.  Fourteen  hundred  of  them  were  killed 
and  seven  hundred  wounded — a  somewhat  singular  propor- 
tion, suggesting  that  there  was  little  quarter  shown  to  the 
—  19 


428  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

defeated.  The  royalist  general  capitulated  on  the  field ;  the 
viceroy  was  wounded.  This  event  completed  the  liberation 
of  the  continent,  and  raised  Bolivar  to  his  apogee.  The 
Argentine  Republic,  which  had  hitherto  claimed  Upper 
Peru,  now  relinquished  it,  and  it  was  made  into  a  separate 
state,  to  which  the  name  Bolivia  was  given.  The  Assembly 
of  Peru  voted  a  million  dollars  to  the  dictator,  who  used 
much  of  it  in  liberating  slaves  in  Bolivia.  He  made  a  tour 
through  the  country,  arousing  great  enthusiasm,  as  might 
be  expected  from  such  a  population,  at  such  a  time.  Sucre 
was  made  president  of  Bolivia;  and  all  that  remained  was 
to  give  the  people  of  the  liberated  continent  an  education  in 
their  duties  as  citizens.  The  lesson  is  always  a  difficult  and 
a  long  one;  and  without  prejudice  to  the  scholars  in  this 
instance,  we  may  admit  that  they  are  still  learning. 

We  must  now  take  a  glance  at  the  progress  of  liberal 
ideas  in  Mexico.  In  its  first  steps  toward  inevitable  free- 
dom, Mexico  was  guided  by  two  remarkable  men,  Hidalgo 
and  Lorelos.  Hidalgo,  born  in  1753,  was  the  son  of  a  farmer, 
went  to  school  at  Valladolid,  and  became  the  head  of  the 
College  of  San  Nicholas.  In  1779  he  was  made  curate  in 
Mexico ;  but  he  was  interested  in  farming,  established  a  brick 
manufactory,  and  secretly  cherished  heretical  opinions  in  both 
politics  and  religion.  He  was  a  great  favorite  with  the  peo- 
ple, however,  and  inoculated  many  with  his  views.  A  cer- 
tain Ignacio  Allende  was  one  of  his  intimates,  and  Aldama 
was  another.  The  suspicions  of  the  government  were  finally 
aroused ;  but  Hidalgo,  instead  of  taking  flight,  decided  to  act. 
He  might  be  called  the  John  Brown  of  Mexico ;  though,  in 
view  of  his  extraordinary  success  for  a  time,  we  might  regard 
him  as  a  sort  of  masculine  Joan  of  Arc.  There  was  some- 
thing almost  miraculous  in  his  campaign;  but  an  army 
which,  like  his,  is  a  mere  rabble  of  untrained  and  ill-armed 
people  occasionally  accomplishes  wonderful  things  by  mere 
accident.  They  have  the  single  advantage  of  numbers  and 
enthusiasm;  they  cannot  stand  against  resolute  attack  by 
disciplined  soldiers;  but  should  any  chance  panic  occur 


THE    FINAL   STRUGGLE  429 

in  their  enemy's  ranks,  or  should  they  themselves,  by  some 
fortuity,  happen  to  do  the  right  thing  at  the  right  moment, 
instead  of  the  wrong  one,  they  may  win  astonishing  victories. 
In  the  end  of  course  they  must  succumb,  unless  they  have 
been  able  actually  to  exterminate  their  foe  while  they  were 
in  the  way  with  him. 

Hidalgo  started  out  with  ten  men  on  the  15th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1810,  from  his  home  in  the  little  town  of  Dolores;  he 
was  accompanied  by  Allende  and  Aldama  and  his  own 
brother.  They  had  a  battle-cry,  which  is  known  as  El 
Grito  de  Dolores:  it  was  "Up  with  true  religion,  down  with 
false  government!"  They  made  their  way  to  San  Miguel 
el  Grande,  their  numbers  rapidly  increasing  as  they  went; 
by  the  time  they  had  reached  Celaya  they  were  fifty  thou- 
sand men.  "With  this  force  Hidalgo  ventured  on  the  attack 
against  Guanajuato,  which  he  captured  after  a  confused 
struggle,  the  stronghold  being  set  on  fire  by  a  small  boy, 
who  protected  himself  against  bullets  by  holding  a  tile  over 
his  head.  He  was  now  joined  by  further  crowds  of  peas- 
antry, and  by  not  a  few  soldiers;  and  on  the  17th  of  October, 
Hidalgo  with  his  grotesque  army  entered  Valladolid.  Mean- 
while the  bishops  had  excommunicated  him,  and  the  new 
viceroy,  Venegas,  was  getting  an  army  together  to  destroy 
him.  But  Hidalgo  was  unterrified,  and  with  a  following 
of  not  less  than  a  hundred  thousand  men,  he  advanced 
against  the  city  of  Mexico.  The  inhabitants  were  terror- 
stricken,  and  began  to  prepare  for  the  worst;  but  the  viceroy 
sent  forward  his  trained  troops,  and  a  battle  forthwith  took 
place. 

The  royal  artillery  did  great  execution;  but  the  rabble 
did  not  know  enough  about  war  to  appreciate  its  peril,  and 
kept  on  fighting,  till  by  sheer  force  of  numbers  it  overcame 
the  regulars,  slaughtered  them  right  and  left,  and  drove 
them  from  the  field.  Now  was  the  moment  for  Hidalgo  to 
rush  forward  and  possess  himself  of  the  city ;  but,  like  other 
amateur  soldiers,  he  was  not  aware  of  the  value  of  the  oppor- 
tunity; and  thinking  that  he  might  be  again  attacked  by 


430  HISTORY   OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

reinforcements,  he  withdrew  to  Queretaro;  there  he  was 
assailed  by  some  troops  under  Calleja,  suffered  a  reverse, 
and  as  if  by  magic  his  vast  horde  melted  away,  and  he  was 
left,  with  a  few  followers,  alone.  He  fled  to  Valladolid; 
Allende  was  pursued  by  Calleja  to  Guanajuato.  Hidalgo 
assembled  another  horde,  but  was  met  on  the  16th  of  Jan- 
uary at  the  Puente  de  Calderon  by  Calleja,  who  utterly 
defeated  him.  With  Allende  and  some  other  rebel  chiefs, 
Hidalgo  tried  to  escape  across  the  boundary  to  the  United 
States;  but  they  were  overtaken  by  the  Spaniards,  carried 
to  Chihuahua,  and  shot.  Their  heads  were  then  cut  off  and 
fastened  upon  the  gate  of  the  Alhondiga  de  Grenaditas, 
where  they  remained  for  ten  years.  Afterward  they  were 
reverently  buried,  as  relics  of  martyrs,  in  the  church  at 
Mexico. 

The  career  of  Morelos  did  not  differ  widely  from  Hidalgo's. 
He  was  a  younger  man  than  Hidalgo,  and  had  at  one  time 
been  his  pupil ;  he  was  the  son  of  a  carpenter,  and  till  he  was 
thirty  followed  the  calling  of  a  muleteer.  It  was  after  he 
reached  thirty  that  he  began  his  education,  and  was  ordained 
to  the  church;  but  after  a  little  experience  of  curacies,  the 
Grito  de  Dolores  was  sounded,  and  he  cast  in  his  fortunes 
with  the  rebels.  His  operations  were  chiefly  on  the  Pacific 
coast,  where  he  met  with  many  successes,  and  evinced  a 
talent  for  handling  troops.  He  seems  to  have  been  ambi- 
tious of  military  distinction,  and  was  perhaps  inflamed  by 
the  example  of  Napoleon,  who  turned  the  heads  of  many 
likely  young  men  in  those  days.  He  made  his  way  to  the 
town  of  Cuatla,  about  eighty  miles  from  Mexico,  where  he 
sustained  a  long  siege  by  Calleja,  finally  escaping  with  his 
men  by  night.  After  this,  till  the  end  of  1812,  he  gained 
many  smaU  victories;  and  he  captured  the  fortress  of  San 
Diego  in  August,  1813.  A  month  later  he  called  together 
the  first  Mexican  congress  at  Chilpantzingo,  which  issued 
a  declaration  of  independence.  He  then  advanced  against 
Valladolid,  which  was  strongly  garrisoned,  and  commanded 
by  Agustin  de  Iturbide.  He  summoned  the  town  to  sur- 


THE    FINAL    STRUGGLE  431 

render,  but  Iturbide  gave  him  battle  and  routed  him,  and 
his  army  was  dispersed.  The  congress  began  to  quarrel; 
Morelos  was  closely  pursued  by  the  royalists,  and  finally 
captured ;  he  was  shot  at  St.  Cristobel  Ecatepec  on  the  22d 
of  December,  1815.  His  memory  is  greatly  revered  by  the 
Mexican  people ;  and  Valladolid  changed  its  name  to  Morelia 
in  his  honor. 

The  rebellion  was  now  apparently  extinguished;  but,  it 
need  not  be  said,  it  was  only  smouldering  out  of  sight.  Vin- 
cente  Guerrero  had  joined  the  revolutionists  in  1810,  and  still 
continued  to  keep  in  the  field ;  he  was  in  a  hundred  engage- 
ments, in  some  of  which  he  was  defeated,  while  in  others 
he  gained  the  advantage ;  thus  he  held  out  for  ten  years, 
always  managing  to  escape  capture.  But  in  1820  Ferdinand, 
who  had  regained  his  throne,  was  obliged  to  make  liberal 
changes  in  his  administration,  which  aroused  Mexico  to  de- 
mand reforms.  Iturbide,  who  had  hitherto  fought  in  the 
royalist  ranks,  and  had  attained  the  rank  of  colonel,  now 
declared  himself  in  favor  of  the  complete  separation  of  Mex- 
ico from  Spain.  At  this  very  time  he  had  been  appointed  to 
lead  a  force  against  Guerrero  in  the  south;  after  several 
minor  engagements,  he  entered  into  correspondence  with  the 
rebel  leader,  and  told  him  that  he  desired  to  proclaim  Mex- 
ican independence.  Guerrero  thereupon  handed  over  his 
own  command  to  the  renegade,  and  the  "Plan  of  Iguala" 
was  drawn  up  on  the  24th  of  February.  It  provided  for  the 
exclusive  preservation  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  the 
absolute  independence  of  Mexico  under  a  moderate  monarchy 
with  some  member  of  the  House  of  Bourbon  on  the  throne^ 
and  the  amicable  union  of  Spaniards  and  Mexicans.  These 
principles  found  general  favor  among  the  rebels  to  the  exist- 
ing government,  and  the  army  of  the  Three  Guarantees, 
as  it  was  called,  gained  great  strength  in  the  south,  and 
advanced  upon  the  capital,  where  the  viceroy,  Apodaca,  was 
indignantly  preparing  to  exterminate  it.  But  the  people 
were  against  him,  and  his  orders  were  not  obeyed,  and  finally 
a  deputation  from  his  troops  informed  him  that  he  was  de- 


432  HISTORY   OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

posed.  He  left  for  Spain  with  his  family  at  once.  A  sub- 
inspector  of  artillery,  Novella,  was  installed  in  his  place ;  but 
though  he  issued  orders  in  due  form,  no  one  attended  to 
them.  Santa  Anna,  at  Vera  Cruz,  joined  Iturbide,  and 
many  royalists  did  the  same;  there  seemed  to  be  no  oppo- 
nents to  the  new  regime;  when  unexpectedly  a  new  viceroy, 
sent  to  supersede  Apodaca,  of  course  without  knowledge  of 
what  hacl  happened,  landed  at  Vera  Cruz  and  there  took  the 
oath  of  office.  His  name  was  Juan  O'Donoju,  a  Spanish 
disguise  which  but  awkwardly  veils  the  origin  of  its  bearer. 
Iturbide,  who  desired  no  unnecessary  trouble,  met  the  viceroy 
on  his  way  to  the  capital,  and  prevailed  upon  him  to  accept 
the  revolution.  The  two  then  went  forward  together,  and, 
after  receiving  the  capitulation  of  Novella,  entered  Mexico 
in  triumph  with  sixteen  thousand  men,  and  without  firing  a 
shot. 

A  few  Spanish  families  left  the  country  upon  the  instal- 
lation of  the  new  government,  but  for  the  most  part  it  was 
agreed  to,  and  went  into  active  operation.  Guatemala  joined 
Mexico  for  a  time,  but  later  set  up  for  itself.  The  Mexican 
Congress  had  its  first  session  in  February,  but  got  into  a 
tangle  at  once;  great  differences  of  opinion  were  developed, 
and  it  became  plain  that  the  party  of  Iturbide  was  not  dis- 
posed to  carry  out  the  provision  of  the  "Plan"  which  would 
place  a  Bourbon  on  the  throne.  While  the  quarrel  was  at 
its  height,  news  came  that  the  Spanish  Cortes  declared  the 
Mexican  government  null  and  void.  Iturbide  at  once  caused 
himself  to  be  proclaimed  emperor,  and  compelled  the  con- 
gress to  accept  him  as  such.  On  the  19th  of  May  he  assumed 
his  dignity.  It  was  the  end  which  he  had  contemplated  ever 
since  he  held  his  first  treasonable  correspondence  with  Guer- 
rero. As  Agustin  I.  he  was  crowned  in  the  cathedral  on  the 
21st  of  July.  But,  as  might  have  been  anticipated,  such 
a  coup  de  theatre  could  have  no  security.  Hardly  any  one 
really  wished  the  adventurer,  who  had  done  nothing  to  en- 
dear himself  to  the  country,  to  be  its  ruler.  Feeling  that 
a  struggle  was  before  him,  he  dissolved  the  congress,  and 


THE    FINAL   STRUGGLE  433 

attempted  to  carry  on  the  government  personally.  On  De- 
cember 6th,  the  Republic  was  proclaimed  at  Vera  Cruz,  with 
Santa  Anna  at  the  head  of  the  movement.  It  was  every- 
where received  with  favor,  and  Agustin,  seeing  himself 
deserted,  bowed  to  the  storm,  and  retired.  The  congress  re- 
assembled, and  banished  him  from  Mexico  with  an  annuity. 
He  wrote  from  London  to  the  Mexican  government  that  there 
was  a  plan  afoot  in  Europe  to  reinstate  the  Spanish  power 
in  Mexico,  and  offered  his  services;  they  were  refused,  from 
motives  of  prudence,  and  it  was  announced  that  he  would 
suffer  death  should  he  return.  But  the  unlucky  Iturbide, 
counting  upon  a  favorable  answer  to  his  letter,  did  not  wait 
to  receive  the  answer,  but  embarked  on  a  British  ship  and 
landed  at  Soto  la  Marina,  with  all  his  family,  July  14,  1824. 
He  was  at  once  arrested  and  informed  that,  in  accordance 
with  the  decree,  he  must  die.  In  spite  of  his  protestations 
that  he  had  not  been  aware  of  the  decree,  he  was  taken  to 
the  capital,  tried,  condemned,  and  immediately  shot.  Noth- 
ing in  his  life  so  well  became  him  as  the  way  he  left  it. 
"Mexicans,"  said  he,  "I  die  because  I  came  to  help  you. 
I  die  gladly,  because  I  die  among  you.  I  die  with  honor, 
not  a  traitor.  I  leave  to  my  children  no  stain  of  treason. 
No— I  am  not  a  traitor!" 

It  was  a  mistake  to  kill  him ;  he  had  done  less  mischief 
than  most  agitators  and  revolutionists  do,  and  he  seems  to 
have  loved  his  country.  Personally,  he  was  a  vain  man, 
fond  of  show,  brave,  animated,  and  handsome.  Long  after 
his  death  he  was  called  Libertador  de  Mexico,  which  he  was 
not;  but  neither  did  he  deserve  to  be  made  a  martyr. 

After  his  removal,  the  most  notable  figure  of  the  revolu- 
tion in  Mexico  made  his  appearance  in  the  foreground.  Santa 
Anna  was  born  in  1792,  and  was  therefore  at  this  time  well 
under  thirty  years  of  age.  It  was  a  season  of  plots  and  coun- 
terplots, the  country  being  full  of  men  each  of  whom  had  his 
plan  for  a  government,  and  most  of  whom  wished  to  be  at 
the  head  of  it.  General  Victoria  was  the  first  president 
under  the  new  constitution,  and  held  on  for  two  years ;  but 


434  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

after  his  retirement  the  conservatives  and  the  liberals  joined 
issue  with  energy.  Guerrero  was  the  liberal  candidate,  but 
his  opponent,  Pedraza,  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  two; 
upon  which  Santa  Anna  declared  that  Guerrero  was  the  true 
choice.  Mutiny  broke  out  in  Mexico  City,  and  Pedraza  fled, 
and  the  city  was  set  on  fire  and  pillaged.  Guerrero  was  finally 
called  to  Mexico  and  given  the  presidency.  Meanwhile  Spain 
was  sending  troops  to  establish  her  authority,  though  the 
Republic  had  already  been  acknowledged  by  the  United 
States.  Santa  Anna  marched  against  the  invading  Spanish 
army,  and  forced  their  capitulation ;  and  Spain  accepted  this 
reverse  as  final.  Santa  Anna  was  made  war  minister  and 
commander-in-chief  by  the  president;  upon  which  he  turned 
Guerrero  out  of  the  presidency,  and  put  General  Bustamente, 
who  was  vice-president,  in  the  supreme  place.  Guerrero 
resented  his  dismissal  and  took  to  the  mountains,  where  he 
levied  war  of  the  guerilla  sort  upon  his  enemies.  He  was 
captured  by  a  ruse,  and  handed  over  to  the  government, 
which  shot  him.  He  was  one  of  the  few  men  of  undoubted 
honesty  of  this  epoch.  Santa  Anna  soon  tired  of  Busta- 
mente, deposed  him,  and  consented  to  assume  the  office  him- 
self. How  he  was  able  to  do  all  these  things,  no  one  could 
explain;  he  was  the  "Boss"  of  Mexico.  From  president  he 
was  soon  made  dictator.  The  further  adventures  of  Mexico, 
up  to  the  time  of  its  war  with  the  United  States,  were  internal 
ones,  and  need  not  detain  us. 

Before  the  date  at  which  we  have  now  arrived  (1833) 
Simon  Bolivar  had  caused  to  be  convened  at  Panama  an 
international  congress;  his  idea  being  that  all  American  re- 
publics should  get  together  to  insure  the  peace  and  liberty 
of  the  continent.  It  was  intended  to  offset  the  European 
congresses  which  met  to  arrange  international  matters  in 
the  eastern  hemisphere.  The  first  object  of  the  Spanish 
American  congress  was  to  take  measures  for  their  common 
protection  against  Spain.  The  United  States,  whose  so- 
called  Monroe  Doctrine  had  showed  her  to  be  opposed  to 
the  establishment  of  monarchies  in  the  west,  or  to  the  in- 


THE    FINAL    STRUGGLE  435 

terference  of  European  monarchies  in  western  affairs,  was 
among  those  invited  to  send  delegates. 

The  United  States  did  not  respond,  but  representatives  of 
Mexico,  Central  America,  Colombia  and  Peru  were  present 
at  the  meeting,  which  took  place  on  the  22d  of  June,  1826. 
Agents  from  Great  Britain  attended  for  purposes  of  observa- 
tion. Ten  meetings  were  held,  and  the  following  agreement 
was  arrived  at:  "The  republics  of  Colombia,  Central  Amer- 
ica, Peru  and  the  Mexican  States  do  mutually  ally  and  con- 
federate themselves  in  peace  and  war  in  a  perpetual  compact, 
the  object  of  which  shall  be  to  maintain  the  sovereignty  and 
independence  of  the  confederated  powers  against  foreign  sub- 
jection, and  to  secure  the  enjoyment  of  unalterable  peace." 
But  it  was  tolerably  evident  from  the  first  that  the  congress 
was,  to  say  the  best  of  it,  premature.  The  American  States 
were  in  no  visible  peril  of  subjection  by  Europe ;  their  con- 
stant and  pressing  danger  was  in  their  mutual  and  internal 
jealousies  and  conflicts.  Their  history  for  the  fourscore  years 
of  their  existence  has  been  one  confused  record  of  mutinies, 
revolts,  coups  de  main,  assassinations,  usurpations,  and  res- 
torations. In  several  of  them,  life  and  property  have  never 
been  secure,  and  capitalists  who  have  attempted  to  develop 
their  resources  have  found  to  their  cost  that  concessions  and 
franchises  granted  by  their  governments  are  not  worth  the 
paper  on  which  they  are  written ;  because  the  next  day,  or 
the  next  year,  the  existing  government  may  be  overthrown, 
and  the  succeeding  one  repudiates  all  contracts  entered  into 
by  the  other.  The  time  may  come  when  a  more  stable  con- 
dition of  affairs  may  be  established;  and  in  some  of  the  re- 
publics there  is  already  reasonable  security;  but  the  prob- 
abilities are  that  there  will  finally  be  a  new  distribution  of 
political  power,  with  guarantees  of  permanence. 

Four  years  after  this  ineffective  congress,  Bolivar's  power 
came  to  an  end.  General  Mitre,  the  statesman  and  historian 
of  South  America,  who  was  born  at  Buenos  Ayres  in  1821, 
and  died  there  in  1894,  draws  up  a  striking  resume  of  the 
fate  of  the  leaders  of  Spanish  American  revolutions.  He 


436  HISTORY   OF   SPANISH   AMERICA 

says:  "The  first  revolutionists  of  La  Paz  and  of  Quito  died 
on  the  scaffold.  Miranda,  the  apostle  of  liberty,  betrayed 
by  his  own  people  to  his  enemies,  died,  alone  and  naked,  in 
a  dungeon.  Moreno,  the  priest  of  the  Argentine  revolution, 
and  the  teacher  of  the  democratic  idea,  died  at  sea,  and 
found  a  grave  in  the  ocean.  Hidalgo,  the  first  popular 
leader  of  Mexico,  was  executed  as  a  criminal.  Belgrano, 
the  first  champion  of  Argentine  independence,  who  saved 
the  revolution  at  Tucuman  and  Salta,  died  obscurely,  while 
civil  war  raged  around  him.  O'Higgins,  the  hero  of  Chili, 
died  in  exile,  as  Carrera,  his  rival,  had  done  before  him. 
Iturbide,  the  real  liberator  of  Mexico,  died  a  victim  to  his 
own  ambition.  Montufar,  the  leader  of  the  revolution  at 
Quito,  and  his  comrade  Villavicencio,  the  promoter  of  that 
of  Cartagena,  were  strangled.  The  first  presidents  of  New 
Granada,  Lozano  and  Torres,  fell  sacrifices  to  the  restoration 
of  colonial  terrorism.  Piar,  who  found  the  true  base  for  the 
insurrection  in  Colombia,  was  shot  by  Bolivar,  to  whom  he 
had  shown  the  way  to  victory.  Rivadavia,  the  civil  genius 
of  South  America,  who  gave  form  to  her  representative  in- 
stitutions, died  in  exile.  Sucre,  the  conqueror  of  Ayacucho, 
was  murdered  by  his  own  men  on  a  lonely  road.  Bolivar 
and  San  Martin  died  in  banishment."  This,  we  say,  is  an 
effective  piece  of  rhetoric;  but  after  all,  its  historic  or  ethical 
value  is  small.  It  is  easy  to  get  up  such  enumerations,  and 
they  may  be  made  to  tell  either  way.  Most  men  who  are 
concerned  in  wars  and  revolutions  die  in  a  comparatively 
sensational  manner ;  but  the  manner  of  their  deaths  has  no 
special  significance.  General  Mitre  would  apparently  have 
us  infer  that  all  liberators  are  martyrs.  Some  of  them  are; 
more  of  them  may  seem  to  be  at  a  hasty  glance;  but  the 
majority  have  little  to  complain  of.  It  would  not  be  at  all 
difficult  to  make  out  a  list  of  patriots  and  agitators  who 
were  quite  as  prominent  as  any  named  by  Mitre,  who  died 
peacefully  in  their  beds,  and  in  good  odor  and  repute. 

As  for  Bolivar,  he  was  charged  with  aiming  at  perma- 
nent power  in  January,  1830,  and,  by  way  of  disproving  the 


THE    FINAL    STRUGGLE  437 

charge,  he  resorted  to  the  somewhat  threadbare  expedient  of 
resigning  his  "perpetual  dictatorship."  He  was,  promptly 
and  according  to  programme,  re-elected.  His  chief  oppo- 
nents in  the  congress  were  those  who  advocated  a  disrup- 
tion of  the  Colombian  union ;  Peru  and  Bolivia  had  already 
declared  against  him.  It  was  finally  voted  in  the  congress 
to  give  him  a  pension  of  three  thousand  dollars  a  year,  on 
condition  of  his  leaving  the  country  and  residing  henceforth 
abroad.  This  hurt  his  pride,  as  it  was  doubtless  designed  to 
do;  he  resigned,  and  went  to  Caracas,  intending  to  sail  for 
England.  His  friends  suggested  his  heading  a  movement 
to  restore  the  union  of  Colombia;  but  his  health  was  failing, 
and  he  had  no  longer  any  of  that  fierce  energy  which  had 
brought  him  through  so  many  adventures.  He  died  at  Santa 
Marta,  on  the  sea-shore,  saying,  with  the  petulance  and  the 
grandiloquence  which  were  characteristic  of  him,  "The  peo- 
ple send  me  to  the  tomb;  but  I  forgive  them!"  The  man 
who  looks  for  gratitude  for  doing  his  duty  forfeits  all  claim 
to  it.  The  cause  of  Bolivar's  death  was  not  the  people,  but 
consumption,  perhaps  hastened  by  pique.  However,  a  man 
cannot  always  be  equal  to  his  best  self ;  and  we  may  remem- 
ber that  Bolivar,  at  his  best,  was  one  of  the  greatest  sons  of 
South  America,  and  did  his  country  immeasurable  service. 
The  Argentine  Republic,  when  it  was  constituted  in  1816, 
did  not  include  all  the  territory  originally  known  as  Argen- 
tina; three  states  were  cut  out  of  it,  under  the  names  of 
Uruguay,  Paraguay  and  Bolivia.  After  the  fighting  in  Chili 
and  the  north  was  over,  an  Argentine  constitution  was  for- 
mulated in  1825.  The  two  political  parties  which  then  arose 
were  the  Unitarians,  answering  to  our  Republicans,  and  the 
States'  Rights  party.  Rivadavia  was  made  president;  he 
was  a  centralist.  There  was  strong  opposition  to  him  dur- 
ing his  presidency;  and  presently  the  name  of  a  certain 
Juan  Facundo  Quiroga  began  to  be  notorious.  This  man 
was  a  peasant  by  birth,  and  by  nature  a  desperado  and  out- 
law, with  a  touch  of  sinister  genius.  He  exercised  remark- 
able influence  over  men's  minds,  and  became  a  sort  of  free- 


438  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

booting  dictator.  He  murdered,  or  caused  to  be  "executed," 
scores  of  men,  his  own  son  among  them.  He  assumed  and 
exercised  governmental  powers  to  which  he  had  not  the 
shadow  of  a  legal  claim.  Rosas,  a  man  of  somewhat  similar 
character,  became  governor  of  Buenos  Ayres ;  he  was  at  one 
time  on  friendly  terms  with  Quiroga;  but  in  1834  they  quar- 
relled, and  Quiroga  was  hunted  down  and  killed.  Rosas 
became  the  tyrant  of  Buenos  Ayres,  but  his  rule,  though 
bloody,  was  not  devoid  of  good  features.  Commerce  and 
industry  flourished;  but  finally,  in  a  war  with  Brazil  about 
Paraguay,  he  was  defeated  and  fled  to  England,  where  he 
died.  His  most  distinguished  successor  was  General  Mitre, 
already  mentioned,  under  whom  Argentina  enjoyed  great 
prosperity,  and  Buenos  Ayres  became  a  great  commercial 
centre. 

The  early  history  of  Paraguay  was  a  singular  one.  After 
the  separation  of  the  state  from  the  Argentina,  a  govern- 
mental junta  was  formed  in  1811,  of  which  one  Jose  Gaspar 
Rodriguez  Francia,  a  doctor  of  law,  was  a  member.  He  was 
a  man  of  original  force,  and  gloomy  and  lonely  tempera- 
ment, who,  far  from  all  sources  of  culture,  thought  his  own 
thoughts  and  arrived  at  his  own  conclusions.  He  possessed 
a  domineering  will,  and  the  power  to  control  men;  together 
with  a  high  administrative  faculty.  He  had  been  opposed  to 
the  oppression  of  Spain,  but  he  did  not  share  the  prevalent 
belief  that  republicanism  was  the  panacea  for  the  ills  of  tbe 
people.  "What  they  needed,  he  thought,  was  a  strong  hand 
to  guide  and  constrain  them ;  and  it  was  not  long  before  he 
himself  supplied  the  needed  element.  His  ability  and  deci- 
siveness caused  him  to  take  the  lead  in  public  affairs,  and  to 
dominate  his  colleagues;  he  was  made  consul  in  1811,  and 
six  years  afterward  he  became  dictator,  with  a  life  tenure 
of  the  office.  His  despotism  was  absolute ;  but  in  all  public 
affairs  he  acted  for  the  good  of  the  people,  as  he  understood 
it;  and  though  he  was  cruel  upon  occasion,  he  was  uniformly 
just,  and  his  authority  was  never  seriously  questioned.  The 
laws  he  made  as  to  intercourse  with  foreign  nations  and  in- 


THE   FINAL   STRUGGLE  439 

dividuals  were  most  strict ;  any  one  who  entered  the  country 
did  so  at  the  risk  of  his  life;  nevertheless  a  few  Europeans 
were  permitted  to  live  and  carry  on  business  there.  All  that 
is  known  of  him,  therefore,  is  derived  from  the  accounts  of 
some  of  these  residents,  chiefly  as  digested  and  reproduced 
by  the  genius  of  Thomas  Carlyle,  whose  essay  on  Dr.  Francia 
is  one  of  his  most  interesting  productions.  "Our  lonesome 
Dictator,"  he  says,  "living  among  Gauchos,  had  the  great- 
est pleasure,  it  would  seem,  in  rational  conversation  with 
Robertson,  with  Rengger,  with  any  kind  of  intelligent  hu- 
man creature,  when  such  could  be  fallen  in  with,  which 
was  rarely.  He  would  question  you  with  eagerness  about 
the  ways  of  men  in  foreign  places,  the  properties  of  things 
unknown  to  him.  All  human  interest  and  insight  was  in- 
teresting to  him.  Only  persons  of  no  understanding  being 
near  him  for  the  most  part,  he  had  to  content  himself  with 
silence,  a  meditative  cigar,  and  a  cup  of  mate."  He  gov- 
erned until  his  death,  in  1840. 

His  two  nephews,  Alonso  and  Carlos  Lopez,  were  elected 
consuls  after  Francia's  death.  But  in  1844  there  was  a  new 
constitution,  under  which  Carlos  was  made  dictator  for  seven 
years.  Dying  in  1862,  he  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Fran- 
cisco. He  is  regarded  as  the  worst  character  in  later  South 
American  history.  Charles  A.  "Washburn,  resident  minister 
of  the  United  States  at  Asuncion,  describes  him  thus:  "In 
person  he  was  short  and  stout ;  he  dressed  with  great  care 
and  precision,  and  endeavored  to  give  himself  a  smart  and 
natty  appearance.  His  hands  and  feet  were  very  small,  in- 
dicating his  Indian  origin.  His  complexion  was  dark,  and 
gave  evidence  of  a  strong  taint  of  Guarany  blood.  He  also 
had  many  of  the  tastes  peculiar  to  the  savage.  Before  going 
to  Europe,  he  dressed  grotesquely,  but  his  costume  was  al- 
ways expensive  and  elaborately  finished.  He  wore  enormous 
silver  spurs,  such  as  would  have  been  the  envy  of  a  Gaucho, 
and  the  trappings  of  his  horse  were  so  completely  covered 
with  silver  as  almost  to  form  a  coat  of  mail.  After  his  re- 
turn from  abroad,  he  adopted  a  more  civilized  costume,  but 


±±0  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

always  indulged  in  gorgeous  display  of  gold  lace  and  bright 
buttons.  He  conversed  with  fluency  and  had  a  good  com- 
mand of  language,  and  when  in  good  humor  his  manners 
were  courteous  and  agreeable.  His  eyes,  when  he  was 
pleased,  had  a  mild  and  amiable  expression;  but  when  he 
was  enraged  the  pupil  seemed  to  dilate  till  it  included  the 
whole  iris,  and  the  eye  did  not  appear  to  be  that  of  a  human 
being,  but  rather  of  a  wild  beast  goaded  to  madness.  He 
had  however  a  gross  animal  look  that  was  repulsive  when 
his  face  was  in  repose.  His  forehead  was  narrow  and  his 
head  small,  with  the  rear  organs  largely  developed.  He 
was  an  inveterate  smoker  of  the  strongest  Paraguayan 
cigars.  His  face  was  rather  flat,  and  his  nose  and  hair 
indicated  more  of  the  negro  than  of  the  Indian.  His  cheeks 
had  a  fulness  that  extended  to  the  jowl,  giving  him  a  sort  of 
bulldog  expression.  In  his  later  years  he  grew  enormously 
fat,  so  much  so  that  few  would  believe  that  a  photograph 
of  his  figure  was  not  a  caricature.  He  was  very  irregular 
in  his  hours  of  eating,  but  when  he  did  eat,  the  quantity  he 
consumed  was  enormous.  His  drinking  was  in  keeping  with 
his  eating;  he  always  kept  a  large  stock  of  foreign  wines, 
liquors  and  ale,  but  he  had  little  discrimination  in  the  use  of 
them.  Though  he  habitually  drank  largely,  yet  he  often 
exceeded  his  own  large  limits,  and  on  such  occasions  he  was 
liable  to  break  out  in  the  most  furious  abuse  of  all  who  were 
about  him.  He  would  then  indulge  in  the  most  revolting 
obscenity,  and  would  sometimes  give  orders  for  the  most 
barbarous  acts.  When  he  had  recovered  from  these  de- 
bauches he  would  stay  the  execution  of  his  orders,  if  they 
had  not  already  been  enforced.  .  .  .  The  cowardly  nature 
of  Lopez  was  so  apparent  that  he  scarcely  took  pains  to  con- 
ceal it.  He  never  exposed  himself  to  the  least  danger  when 
he  could  possibly  avoid  it.  He  usually  had  his  headquarters 
so  far  in  the  rear  that  a  shot  from  an  enemy  could  never  reach 
him.  He  had  another  house  built  close  adjoining  the  one  in 
which  he  lived,  surrounded  on  all  sides  with  walls  of  earth 
at  least  twenty  feet  thick,  and  with  a  roof  of  the  same  ma- 


THE    FINAL    STRUGGLE  441 

terial.  "While  all  was  still  along  the  enemy's  lines  Lopez 
would  bravely  remain  in  the  adjoining  house;  but  so  surely 
as  any  firing  was  heard  in  the  direction  of  the  enemy's  near- 
est batteries,  he  would  instantly  saunter  out  in  feigned  care- 
lessness, trying  hard  to  disguise  his  fear,  and  slink  into  his 
hole,  and  not  show  his  face  again  outside  until  the  firing 
had  ceased.  At  the  very  time  he  was  thus  hid  away  from 
danger,  he  had  his  correspondents  around  him,  writing  the 
most  extravagant  articles  in  praise  of  his  valor,  his  sacri- 
fices, and  his  generalship;  and  declaring  that  the  people 
of  Paraguay  could  never  pay  the  debt  they  owed  him,  who, 
while  they  were  living  in  security  and  abundance,  was  daily 
leading  his  legions  to  battle." 

All  this  gossip  is  interesting,  because  Lopez  had  absolute 
control  over  the  lives  and  welfare  of  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  people.  It  is  sometimes  salutary  to  reflect  what  would 
happen  in  this  world  if  we  were  given  up  without  restraint 
to  our  basest  impulses.  This  miserable  little  half-breed  wal- 
lowed up  to  his  neck  not  only  in  all  manner  of  bestial  indul- 
gences, but  in  blood.  It  is  said  that  he  caused  the  death, 
directly  or  indirectly,  of  scores  of  thousands  of  men  and 
women.  His  own  brother  died  by  his  hand,  and  he  caused 
his  mother  and  sisters  to  be  tortured.  It  would  serve  no 
purpose  to  go  into  further  details  of  his  conduct  in  this 
respect.  His  political  actions  were  in  keeping  with  his  pri- 
vate ones.  By  interfering  in  a  dispute  between  Brazil  and 
Uruguay,  he  brought  about  the  war  of  the  Triple  Alliance, 
the  facts  concerning  which  are  briefly  as  follows :  He  seized 
a  Brazilian  passenger  steamer  at  Asuncion  in  November, 
1864,  and  invaded  Matto  Grosso,  a  state  of  Brazil  bordering 
on  Bolivia.  Early  in  the  following  year  he  sent  a  force  across 
Argentine  territory  against  the  Brazilian  province  of  Rio 
Grande  do  Sul,  and  captured  Argentine  vessels;  but  two 
months  later  his  fleet  was  annihilated  by  the  Brazilian  squad- 
ron near  Corrientes.  A  triple  alliance  between  Brazil,  Uru- 
guay and  The  Argentine  was  formed,  and  the  Paraguayan 
army  which  had  invaded  Rio  Grande  do  Sul  was  besieged 


442  HISTORY   OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

in  Uruguayana,  and  six  thousand  men  capitulated.     Cor- 
rientes  was  then  occupied  by  the  allies,  and  Paraguay  was 
invaded.     There   ensued   a   desperate  campaign,  in   which 
there  were  successes  and  defeats  on  both  sides,  but  the  Para- 
guayans were  gradually  forced  back  into  the  northern  part 
of  the  state;    and  the  final  battle  took  place  at  Pikysgry. 
Lopez  made  his  headquarters  on  a  hill  whence  he  could  see 
for  miles  on  all  sides,  and  sat  on  horseback  behind  his  adobe 
fortification,  prepared  to  fly  should  his  army  be  worsted.    The 
army  fought  with  valor,  and  the  conflict  lasted  four  da3Ts, 
when  the  Paraguayans  were  nearly  exterminated.     Lopez 
perceived  that  there  was  no  hope,  and  leaving  his  men,  he 
sought  safety  in  flight.     "While  crossing  a  stream,  he  was 
overtaken  and  shot;  he  struggled  up  in  the  muddy  water, 
and  was  still  staggering  toward  the  further  bank,  when  he 
was  pierced  by  a  lance.     His  last  words,  worth  preserving 
under  the  circumstances,  are  said  to  have  been,  "I  die  for 
my  country!"     At  all  events,  his  death  brought  the  wholly 
wanton  war  to  an  end,  and  terminated  the  tyranny  which 
had  hitherto  cursed  Paraguay ;  so,  in  another  sense  than  he 
intended  it,  his  words  were  true.     It  is  claimed  that  in  many 
of  his  most  revolting  atrocities  he  was  influenced  by  his  mis- 
tress, an  Irish  woman  known  as  Madam  Lynch.    The  history 
of  Paraguay  is  almost  disconnected  from  that  of  the  other 
South  American  states;  it  did  not  take  part  in  the  general 
movement  for  independence ;  it  is  still  only  on  the  threshold 
of  industrial  and  commercial  development,  and  its  only  town 
is  its  capital,  Asuncion.     It  is  rich  in  timber,  and  its  other 
staple  products   are   oranges  and   matd — a  drink  which  is 
popular  throughout  South  America.    The  present  population 
is  supposed  to  be  half  a  million ;  fully  three  hundred  thousand 
perished  during  the  wars,  and  most  of  the  records  were  lost, 
so  that  it  is  difficult  to  get  secure  titles  to  land ;  for  this  rea- 
son, and  because  there  are  almost  no  roads  or  means  of  trans- 
portation, emigrants  have  been  few.     But  the  country  is  one 
of  the  healthiest  in  South  America,  and  its  fertility  is  bound- 


THE   FINAL   STRUGGLE  443 

From  the  year  1822,  when  O'Higgins  assembled  the  first 
Chilian  congress,  party  dissensions  were  rife;  the  aristocratic 
and  the  liberal  parties  being  fundamentally  opposed  to  each 
other.     Upon  the  whole  the  oligarchical  tendency  in  affairs 
has  been  the  stronger  throughout.     In  1823  there  was  a  sep- 
aration between  northern  and  southern  Chili.      O'Higgins 
left  the  country  and  General  Freire  finally  consented  to  take 
the  office  of  supreme  director.     He  was  disposed  however  to 
refer  all  vital  questions  to  Congress,  and  to  avoid  personal 
responsibility ;  which  had  a  bad  effect.     All  efforts  to  create 
an  oligarchical  republic  were  futile;  it  became  evident  that 
the  country  was  to  have  another  revolution.    In  1824,  Freire 
dissolved  Congress,  and  became  dictator.     His  immediate 
difficulty  was  to  raise  revenue;    the  expenses  of  the  state 
were  more  than  double  its  income.     Valuable  rights  were 
sold  to  foreign  corporations  for  terms  of  years,  and  other 
dangerous  expedients  were  tried;  but  public  discontent  be- 
came constantly  more  pronounced.     After  several  ominous 
transformation   scenes,    a  new  congress  met  in  1826,  and 
appointed  Admiral  Blanco  Encelada  director,  vice  Freire, 
resigned.     It  attempted  to  adopt  the  federal  system  of  gov- 
ernment as  against  the  oligarchical,  and  established  provin- 
cial assemblies;    but  these  all  acted  from  motives  of  local 
self-interest,  and  strong  efforts  were  made  to  revert  to  cen- 
tralization.    On  the  8th  of  May,  1827,  General  Pinto  was 
chosen  chief  of  the  state  with  the  title  of  president ;  his  poli- 
tics were  liberal.     In  1828  a  new  constitution  was  adopted 
unfavorable  to  the  oligarchs;  and  party  spirit  ran  so  high 
that  it  seemed  impossible  to  carry  on  the  government.    Pinto 
resigned,  and  in  November,  1829,  Francisco  Ramon  Vicuna 
was  elected  president;  but  during  the  next  few  months  there 
were  no  less  than  six  presidents  in  and  out  of  power.     Con- 
tending parties  took  the  field,  and  the  -fighting  and  plunder- 
ing put  a  stop  to  business.     In  1830  was  fought  the  battle 
of  Lircay,  between  liberals  led  by  Freire  and  conservatives 
under  Prieto;    the  former  were  defeated,   and  Prieto  was 
made  president.    A  conservative  constitution  was  now  manu- 


444  HISTORY   OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

factured,  giving  the  president  dictatorial  powers,  yet  making 
him  the  creature  of  an  oligarchy;  and  this  document  is  still 
the  organic  law  of  Chili.    Freire  made  an  unsuccessful  effort 
to  overthrow  the  government  in  1836,  getting  supplies  and 
aid  from  Peru ;  after  his  discomfiture,  a  war  of  revenge  upon 
Peru  was  undertaken.    Peru  itself  was  at  this  time  the  scene 
of  civil  war,  owing  to  a  plot  to  unite  Peru  with  Bolivia,  of 
which  Santa  Cruz  was  the  leading  spirit.     In  two  battles, 
the  plotters  were  successful,  and  Santa  Cruz  proclaimed  the 
confederation.     Upon  this  state  of  affairs,  the  Chilians  in- 
vaded Peru,  captured  the  Peruvian  fleet,  and  marched  to 
Arequipa;  but  there  they  were  cooped  up  by  Santa  Cruz  and 
forced  to  capitulate  and  declare  peace.    The  treaty,  however, 
was  at  once  broken  by  Chili,  which  made  preparations  for 
a  new  invasion,  opposed,  however,  by  the  liberals.     After 
suppressing  the  mutiny  at  home,  the  Chilian  army  marched 
on  Lima;  the  army  of  the  Peruvian  president  Orbegosa  was 
defeated;  there  were  three  factions  in  Peru,  each  opposed 
to  the  others,  so  that  the  country  was  at  a  disadvantage. 
Finally,   the  confederation  organized   by  Santa   Cruz   was 
broken  up,   and  he  fled  the  country.     Chili   then   entered 
upon   a  period   of   comparative  tranquillity   and   progress; 
in  1841  a  steamship  line,  the  first  in  the  Pacific,  operated 
by  the  enterprising  American,  William  Wheelwright,  began 
to  run  between   Valparaiso   and  Callao.     The  government 
receipts  now  began  to  exceed  expenses.     A  few  years  later 
the  discovery  of  gold  in  California  created  a  demand  for 
Chilian  wheat  and  flour,  and  mining  industries  had  a  great 
development.     General  Bulnes  was  president  during   these 
years;  his  government,  though  a  strong  military  oligarchy 
in  effect,  was  favorable  to  the  national  welfare.     But   the 
conservatives  were  losing  favor  gradually,  and  when  Manuel 
Montt,  also  of  the  conservatives,  was  made  president  in  1851, 
civil  war  again  broke  out.     After  months  of  bloody  struggle, 
during  which  industry  and  commerce  suffered  seriously,  the 
liberals  were  defeated  in  the  battle  of  Loncomilla,  on  Decem- 
ber 8th.  Montt  wisely  granted  amnesty  to  the  defeated  party, 


THE    FINAL    STRUGGLE  445 

perceiving  that  it  was  still  too  powerful  to  be  defied.  He 
governed  however  with  great  strictness,  and  finally  alienated 
the  clergy,  who  had  heretofore  supported  the  conservatives. 
The  liberals  made  up  their  differences,  and  during  four 
months  of  1859  war  was  waged  with  great  fury.  The  lib- 
erals had  many  successes,  but  were  ultimately  defeated  in 
all  parts  of  the  country.  The  leaders  of  the  revolt  were 
banished. 

In  1861,  Jose  Joaquin  Perez  was  elected  president,  and 
took  both  liberals  and  conservatives  into  his  cabinet,  at  the 
same  time  issuing  a  decree  of  amnesty  to  refugees.  Rail- 
ways were  built,  and  educational  matters  received  attention; 
but,  in  1864,  a  dispute  arose  between  Spain  and  Peru,  in 
which  Chili  took  a  marked  interest  against  Spain,  leading 
to  a  demand  on  the  part  of  that  nation  for  an  apology.  It 
was  refused,  and  an  alliance  was  formed  between  Chili, 
Peru,  Bolivia  and  Ecuador,  against  Spain.  This  war,  which 
had  no  intelligible  basis,  dragged  on  for  many  years ;  it  was 
carried  on  by  the  navies  of  the  countries  concerned,  and  its 
most  striking  incident  was  the  bombardment  of  Valparaiso 
by  the  Spanish  fleet,  destroying  ten  millions  of  dollars'  worth 
of  property,  all  but  one  million  of  which  belonged  to  foreign- 
ers. Spain  was  not  long  after  obliged  to  quit,  though  the 
war  never  came  to  a  definite  or  satisfactory  termination. 

In  1871,  Errazuriz,  a  conservative,  was  chosen  president; 
but  he  gradually  became  more  liberal  in  his  politics ;  and  his 
successor,  Pinto,  was  also  disposed  to  reform.  A  dispute 
about  a  boundary  with  the  Argentine  Republic  threatened 
trouble,  but  was  referred  to  arbitration,  and  was  not  finally 
settled  till  1881.  The  finances  were  not  in  an  altogether 
satisfactory  condition ;  but  the  receipts  from  guano  and  from 
the  nitrate  beds  of  the  Atacama  desert  were  very  large,  and 
helped  the  nation  over  many  difficulties.  Disputes  with  the 
Church  were  acrimonious,  but  were  finally  settled  favorably 
to  the  government.  A  reform  was  also  made  in  the  marriage 
laws,  which  were  very  oppressive.  A  Protestant  marrying 
a  Catholic  must  execute  a  bond  to  educate  all  his  children 


446  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

in  the  Catholic  faith;  and  the  lady  was  compelled  to  give 
two  hundred  dollars  to  the  Home  for  Fallen  Women — infer- 
ring that  she  herself  was  no  better  than  she  should  be.  An- 
other difficulty  was  with  the  Araucanian  Indians,  who  ever 
since  the  creation  of  the  Republic  had  been  making  trouble 
on  the  borders,  and  had  never  been  finally  subdued.  Pinto 
sent  troops  to  the  frontier,  but  did  not  succeed  in  quelling 
the  discontent  of  the  savages.  In  1879  war  broke  out  with 
Bolivia,  and  subsequently  with  Peru,  owing  to  breaches  of 
treaties.  Chili  had  made  claims  to  nitrate  regions  in  Bolivia, 
and  also  in  Peruvian  territory.  They  seized  Antofagasta  in 
Bolivia;  Peru  offered  to  mediate  when  Bolivia  declared  war, 
but  her  offer  was  declined  by  Chili,  who  declared  war  on 
Peru.  The  latter  country  and  Bolivia  entered  into  alliance. 
The  war  lasted  till  1883,  ending  unfavorably  to  the  allies; 
Bolivia  was  forced  to  cede  all  her  coast  region  to  Chili,  and 
Peru  had  to  give  up  Tarapaca.  Important  guano  properties 
were  also  given  over  to  Chili ;  and  her  troops  then  evacuated 
Lima,  October  22,  1883. 

The  only  considerable  Spanish  colony  which  had  not  suc- 
ceeded before  this  time  in  getting  free  from  Spain  was  Cuba. 
The  colonists  were  rendered  restless  by  the  revolutions  on  the 
main,  but  could  effect  no  betterment  of  their  condition.  In 
1823  there  was  a  revolutionary  movement  operated  by  a 
political  association  calling  itself  "Soles  de  Bolivar";  but 
it  was  soon  put  down.  Refugees  in  Mexico  plotted  to  get 
Bolivar  himself  to  head  an  invasion  of  the  island  soon  after, 
but  this  too  miscarried.  The  "Black  Eagle"  association  was 
formed  in  1827,  but  was  opposed  by  the  Creole  slaveholders 
on  the  island,  and  was  dissolved.  In  1835  Spain  was  asked 
to  permit  Cuba  to  send  members  to  the  Cortes ;  a  pretence 
was  made  of  complying  with  the  request  for  a  time ;  but  it 
was  soon  rescinded.  A  slave  insurrection  was  threatened 
nine  years  later,  resulting  only  in  the  conviction  of  thirteen 
hundred  suspected  conspirators,  nearly  eighty  of  whom  were 
shot.  Agitation  for  annexation  of  the  island  to  the  United 
States  was  then  begun,  and  was  supported  by  the  Southern 


THE    FINAL    STRUGGLE  447 

slave-holders  in  this  country;  and  in  1848  President  Polk 
offered  to  buy  the  island  from  Spain  for  ten  million  dollars; 
the  offer  was  curtly  rejected,  much  to  the  subsequent  regret 
of  Spain.  In  1849  Narciso  Lopez,  a  Venezuelan,  tried  to 
rouse  up  a  revolution  in  Cuba;  he  was  prevented,  but  escaped 
to  New  York,  and  returned  with  an  "army"  of  six  hundred 
filibusters.  He  landed  at  Cardenas  in  1850 ;  but  could  not 
hold  his  ground,  and  was  chased  back  to  Key  West  by  a 
Spanish  man-of-war.  He  made  another  attempt  in  1851, 
with  Colonel  Crittenden  to  help  him,  and  four  hundred  and 
fifty  men ;  he  landed  thirty  miles  west  of  Havana,  where  he 
was  attacked  by  Spanish  troops  and  defeated.  Crittenden 
was  shot,  and  Lopez  was  garroted.  These  doings  made 
bad  blood  between  the  United  States  and  Spain ;  and  when 
the  steamer  "Black  Warrior,"  according  to  her  custom,  called 
at  Havana  to  land  and  take  on  mails  and  passengers,  with- 
out declaring  her  cargo  (as  by  written  order  of  the  Spanish 
authorities  she  was  allowed  to  do),  she  was  seized,  her  cargo 
confiscated,  and  a  fine  of  twice  its  value  imposed.  The  cap- 
tain of  the  ship  refused  to  pay,  and  made  his  way  home, 
leaving  his  ship  in  the  harbor.  Claims  for  three  hundred 
thousand  dollars'  damages  were  made  by  the  ship's  owners 
against  Spain,  and,  after  five  years'  wrangling,  they  were 
paid. 

The  "Ostend  Manifesto"  of  1854,  declared  that  Cuba 
ought  to  belong  to  the  United  States,  and  that  under  cer- 
tain conditions  we  would  be  justified  in  taking  it  by  force. 
Our  government  did  not  sustain  the  manifesto,  though  Pres- 
ident Buchanan  again  proposed  to  Congress  the  purchase  of 
the  island.  During  our  Civil  War,  matters  remained  quiet 
in  Cuba :  but  the  emancipation  of  our  slaves  again  awakened 
the  spirit  of  revolt.  The  Spanish  government  had  been  con- 
stantly growing  more  oppressive  and  corrupt.  The  colony 
was  being  bled  to  death  to  nourish  the  anaemia  of  the  mother 
country.  The  organization  of  the  Cuban  Volunteers,  com- 
posed exclusively  of  Spanish  residents  of  the  island,  increased 
the  ill-feeling;  and  in  1867  a  new  revolutionary  conspiracy 


448  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

was  formed  by  Carlos  de  Cespedes,  at  Bayamo.  It  came  to 
a  head  in  1868,  when  the  revolution  in  Spain  occurred.  The 
Cuban  revolutionists  adopted  their  constitution  in  1869,  and 
Cespedes  was  chosen  president  of  the  republic.  For  two 
years  the  revolutionists  met  with  success,  gaining  possession 
of  the  eastern  part  of  the  island ;  but  the  Spanish  kept  send- 
ing reinforcements,  and  a  desultory  but  inhuman  struggle 
was  kept  up  for  many  years;  Cespedes  was  killed  in  1873. 
In  the  same  year  occurred  the  "Virginius"  affair.  The  ves- 
sel was  a  cruising  tramp  steamer,  registered  as  American, 
with  a  crew  partly  composed  of  Americans.  She  had  reg- 
ularly cleared  from  the  port  of  Jamaica  for  Port  Limon ; 
but  off  the  Jamaican  coast  she  was  seized  by  the  Spanish 
cruiser  "Tornado,"  and  brought  to  Santiago  charged  with 
piracy.  There  was  absolutely  no  ground  for  the  charge, 
and  the  American  consul  protested;  but  the  crew  were  put 
through  the  form  of  a  trial  and  fifty-three  of  them  were 
summarily  shot.  Castelar  was  at  the  time  president  of  the 
Spanish  Republic  (as  it  then  was),  and  he  refused  to  inter- 
fere until  our  minister,  Sickles,  demanded  his  passports. 
Spain  was  compelled  to  salute  our  flag,  give  up  the  re- 
mainder of  the  crew,  and  pay  eighty  thousand  dollars  in- 
demnity to  the  families  of  the  men  who  were  killed.  This 
episode  induced  our  government  to  take  measures  to  stop 
the  war  in  Cuba;  and  General  Grant,  then  president,  sug- 
gested intervention.  Finally,  in  1878,  Spain  made  a  treaty 
with  the  insurgents,  promising  general  amnesty,  and  politi- 
cal reforms,  including  representation  in  the  Spanish  Cortes 
— which,  however,  amounted  to  nothing.  General  Campos 
conducted  the  negotiations.  The  war  had  lasted  ten  years, 
and  had  cost  Spain  two  hundred  million  dollars  and  upward 
of  eighty  thousand  men.  The  promises  of  reform  were  not 
kept,  and  the  state  of  the  island  soon  became  worse  than  be- 
fore ;  the  cost  of  the  war  was  put  upon  Cuba,  and  the  debt 
of  the  island  was  increased  from  three  millions  of  dollars 
to  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  millions.  Corruption  was 
shameless,  and  General  Pando  himself,  in  the  Cortes,  men- 


THE    FINAL    STRUGGLE  449 

tioned  forty  million  dollars  stolen  by  Spanish  office-holders; 
and  the  custom-house  frauds  were  reckoned  at  one  hundred 
million  in  seventeen  years.  The  revolution,  though  sup- 
pressed, was  not  crushed  out;  there  were  forty  thousand 
Cuban  refugees  in  this  country,  and  others  in  other  parts 
of  the  world;  and  a  Grand  Junta  was  formed  in  New  York 
to  raise  money  and  lay  plans  for  a  renewal  of  the  struggle. 
But  the  discussion  of  these  matters  must  be  deferred  to  our 
next  and  final  chapter. 


450  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 


HI 

PAST,   PRESENT  AND  FUTURE 

THE  affairs  of  Mexico  and  of  the  United  States  began 
to  be  tangled  up  together  as  early  as  1836,  when 
Santa  Anna  marched  six  thousand  men  into  Texas 
to  quell  the  insurrection  there.  After  a  few  successes,  he 
was  routed  and  taken  prisoner  by  Sam  Houston  and  sent 
to  the  United  States,  where  he  was  kept  till  the  next  year, 
and  then  allowed  to  go  home;  he  was  received  rather  coldly. 
He  remained  in  retirement  on  his  Jalapa  estates  until  the 
French  invaded  Mexico.  He  drove  the  enemy  out  of  Vera 
Cruz,  losing  a  leg  in  the  action,  and  arranged  a  peace  by 
the  payment  of  a  sum  of  money.  In  1840  General  Mejia 
headed  a  revolt,  which  Santa  Anna  put  down,  and  shot  the 
leader.  Still  another  revolution  occurred  the  following  year, 
with  four  parties  to  it;  Bustamente,  who  was  then  president, 
Santa  Anna,  Valencia  and  Paredes.  Each  of  these  men  had 
his  own  ends  to  attain ;  while  the  people  of  the  country  looked 
on  with  entire  indifference.  Santa  Anna  was  victorious  in 
the  end,  and  entered  Mexico  with  a  great  escort,  but  amid  a 
total  absence  of  enthusiasm.  Bustamente  retired  to  Europe, 
and  did  not  return  until  after  the  fall  of  Santa  Anna  in  1845. 
Such  little  revolutions  as  the  one  above  mentioned  were  of 
constant  occurrence  throughout  Spanish  America,  and  were 
of  no  importance  except  to  the  ambitious  individuals  directly 
concerned.  They  interfered,  of  course,  to  some  extent  with 
the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  countries  in  which  they 
took  place,  yet  not  so  much  as  might  be  supposed.  The 
countries  were  large,  and  the  men  small;  the  common  peo- 
ple minded  their  affairs,  and  could  not  have  told,  at  any 
given  moment,  who  were  their  rulers.  Such  political  chess- 
games,  with  their  little  episodes  of  bloodshed  and  executions, 


PAST,    PRESENT    AND   FUTURE  461 

banishments  and  pronunciamentoes,  hardly  rise  to  the  dig- 
nity of  history,  and  will  be  for  the  most  part  ignored  in  our 
narrative. 

The  social  conditions  in  the  capital  at  this  period  are 
described  in  the  journals  of  the  wife  of  the  Spanish  ambas- 
sador to  Mexico,  Madame  Calderon;  and  fifty  years  have 
not  made  any  great  changes  in  the  spectacle.  The  Paseo 
is  still  thronged  every  evening  with  the  carriages  of  people 
in  society,  with  gentlemen  on  horseback  or  sauntering  afoot, 
with  soldiers  and  beggars.  The  flower  markets  are  still  fra- 
grant, quaint  and  beautiful ;  every  one  is  still  indolent  and 
pleasure-loving.  Such  a  scene  as  the  following  may  be 
beheld  by  any  visitor  to  Mexico  of  to-day,  with  only  minor 
variations.  "The  most  beautiful  and  original  scene,"  writes 
Madame  Calderon,  "was  presented  toward  sunset  in  the 
great  square.  The  Plaza  even  on  ordinary  days  is  a  noble 
square,  and  but  for  its  row  of  shops,  which  breaks  the  uni- 
formity, would  be  nearly  unrivalled.  Every  object  is  inter- 
esting. The  eye  wanders  from  the  Cathedral  to  the  House 
of  Cortes,  and  thence  to  a  range  of  fine  buildings,  with  lofty 
arcades,  to  the  west.  Prom  a  balcony  we  could  see  the  dif- 
ferent streets  that  branch  out  from  the  square  filled  with 
gay  crowds  pouring  in  that  direction  to  see  a  procession 
which  was  expected  to  pass  in  front  of  the  palace.  Booths 
filled  with  refreshments  and  covered  with  green  branches 
and  garlands  of  flowers  were  to  be  seen  in  all  directions, 
surrounded  by  crowds  quenching  their  thirst  with  orgeat, 
lemonade,  or  pulque.  The  whole  square  is  covered  with 
thousands  of  figures  in  their  gayest  dresses ;  and  as  the  sun 
poured  his  rays  upon  the  gaudy  colors  they  looked  like 
armies  of  living  tulips.  Here  was  a  group  of  ladies,  some 
in  black  gowns  and  mantillas ;  others,  now  that  their  church- 
going  duties  were  over,  equipped  in  velvet  or  satin,  with 
their  hair  dressed — and  beautiful  hair  they  have! — some 
leading  their  children  by  the  hand,  dressed — alas,  how  those 
children  were  dressed!  Long  velvet  gowns  trimmed  with 
blonde,  diamond  earrings,  high  French  caps  befurbelowed 
—  20 


452  HISTORY   OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

with  lace  and  flowers,  or  turbans  with  plumes  of  feathers! 
Now  and  then  the  head  of  a  little  thing  hardly  able  to  wad- 
dle alone  might  have  belonged  to  an  English  dowager  duch- 
ess in  her  opera-box.  Some  had  extraordinary  bonnets,  and 
as  they  toddled  along,  top-heavy,  one  would  have  thought 
them  little  old  women,  but  for  the  glimpse  of  their  lovely 
little  brown  faces  and  blue  eyes.  The  children  here  are  very 
beautiful;  they  have  little  color,  with  swimming  black  or 
hazel  eyes,  and  long  lashes  resting  on  the  clear,  pale  cheek, 
and  a  mass  of  fine  dark  hair  plaited  down  behind.  As  a 
contrast  to  the  senoras  with  their  overdressed  beauties  were 
the  poor  Indian  women,  trotting  across  the  square,  their 
black  hair  plaited  with  dirty  red  ribbon,  a  piece  of  woollen 
cloth  wrapped  round  them,  and  a  little  mahogany  baby 
hanging  behind,  its  face  upturned  to  the  sky,  and  its  head 
jerking  along,  somehow,  without  its  neck  being  dislocated. 
The  most  resigned  expression  on  earth  is  that  of  a  Mexican 
Indian  baby.  All  these  groups  are  collected  by  hundreds; 
the  women  of  the  shopkeeper  class  in  their  small,  white  em- 
broidered gowns,  with  white  satin  shoes  and  neat  feet  and 
ankles,  rebozos  or  bright  shawls  thrown  over  their  heads; 
the  peasants  and  countrywomen  with  short  petticoats  of  two 
colors,  generally  scarlet  and  yellow,  thin  satin  shoes  and  lace- 
trimmed  chemises;  or  bronze-colored  damsels  crowned  with 
flowers,  strolling  along,  tinkling  light  guitars.  Add  to  this 
crowd  men  dressed  in  the  Mexican  style  with  large  orna- 
mented hats  and  serapes,  or  embroidered  jackets,  saunter- 
ing along,  smoking  their  cigars;  leperos  in  rags,  Indians  in 
blankets,  officers  in  uniform,  priests  in  their  shovel  hats, 
monks  of  every  order;  Frenchmen  exercising  their  wit  upon 
the  passers-by;  Englishmen  looking  on  cold  and  philosophi- 
cal; Germans  gazing  mild  and  mystical  through  their  spec- 
tacles ;  Spaniards  seeming  pretty  much  at  home,  abstaining 
from  remarks.  Suddenly  the  tinkling  of  a  bell  announces 
the  approach  of  Nuestro  Amo  (the  Host).  Instantly  the 
crowd  are  on  their  knees  crossing  themselves  devoutly. 
Disputes  are  hushed,  flirtations  arrested,  and  to  the  hum 


PAST,    PRESENT    AND    FUTURE  453 

of  voices  succeeds  a  deep  silence,  filled  only  by  the  rolling 
of  coach  wheels  and  the  sound  of  the  little  bell." 

Madame  Calderon  was  a  good  observer.  She  also  refers 
to  the  prevalent  brigandage,  the  result  of  the  disorders  occa- 
sioned by  the  civil  wars,  which  made  travel  anywhere  in 
Mexico  dangerous  at  that  period.  It  has  since  then  been 
extirpated  by  Diaz,  who  agreed  to  pay  the  leaders  of  the 
brigands  as  much  as  they  got  by  robbery,  in  the  shape  of 
wages  for  preventing  disorders  throughout  the  country. 
The  thieves  became  mounted  policemen,  and  travel  in 
most  districts  is  safe. 

But  a  time  was  at  hand  when  Mexico  was  to  learn  what 
war  really  is.  They  had  escaped  almost  entirely  the  experi- 
ence which  the  other  Spanish  American  colonies  had  under- 
gone, of  serious  fighting  against  the  soldiers  of  the  mother 
country — by  which  at  least  they  might  have  learned  what 
fighting  against  regular  troops  means.  They  had  been  pitted 
only  against  one  another,  and  of  course,  one  Mexican  was  as 
good  or  as  bad  as  another ;  and  the  only  result  of  these  con- 
flicts was  to  familiarize  them  with  bloodshed  and  the  smell 
of  gunpowder.  Of  the  science  of  modern  warfare  they  knew 
very  little.  They  were  destined  to  learn  something  of  it 
at  the  hands  of  the  only  real  republic  of  the  west;  and  the 
result  was  to  be  salutary  and  explicit.  It  was  to  apprise 
them  that,  instead  of  wasting  their  time  and  their  lives  in 
foolish  and  empty  fratricidal  quarrels,  they  would  better 
turn  to  and  develop  the  resources  of  the  magnificent  coun- 
try, sink  their  petty  differences,  and  try  to  become  a  real 
nation. 

The  trouble  arose  in  this  wise:  Prom  the  era  of  the 
'Twenties,  American  colonists  had  been  pouring  into  the 
vast,  indeterminate  region  of  Texas,  until  the  Americans 
there  greatly  outnumbered  the  Mexicans.  These  colonists 
occupied  lands  regularly  granted  to  them  by  the  Mexican 
government;  they  were  occupied  with  their  own  affairs,  and 
paid  no  heed  to  the  chopping  and  changing  governments  in 
Mexico  City.  Finally,  in  1844,  they  resolved  to  erect  them- 


454  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

selves  into  an  independent  republic,  and  by  the  help  of  Sam 
Houston  they  did  so,  in  spite  of  all  that  Santa  Anna  could 
do  to  prevent  it.  The  next  step  was  to  become  annexed  to 
the  United  States;  but  here  the  Texans  were  confronted 
with  the  opposition  not  of  Santa  Anna  so  much  as  of  the 
anti-slavery  party  in  this  country,  which  feared  an  exten- 
sion of  slavery  in  Texas.  The  annexation  took  place  never- 
theless; and  for  some  sentimental  reason  apparently,  for  there 
was  no  reason  based  on  law,  Mexico  regarded  the  act  as  an 
affront  to  her.  She  announced  that  she  regarded  the  ratifi- 
cation of  the  treaty  of  annexation  as  an  act  of  war  on  our 
part  against  her.  Incredible  as  it  would  seem,  had  we  not 
the  more  recent  example  of  Spain's  folly  before  our  eyes, 
Mexico  undoubtedly  believed  that  she  was  able  to  bring  us 
to  our  knees  and  exact  what  penalty  for  our  "insult"  to  her 
honor  she  saw  fit.  Of  common  soldiers  she  certainly  pos- 
sessed a  sufficient  supply,  and  they  were  hardy  and  spunky 
little  creatures ;  of  officers  she  had  far  too  many ;  but  they 
were  not  educated  in  the  science  of  their  trade,  and  were 
nearly  all  accomplished  thieves,  in  this  respect  rivalling  the 
Spaniards  themselves;  their  stealings  of  course  being  from 
the  resources  of  their  own  government.  The  arms  of  the 
army  were  for  the  most  part  not  of  the  latest  pattern,  and 
were  not  kept  in  good  order.  Navy  there  was  none.  One 
advantage  over  us  they  had:  The  war  was  popular  with 
them,  whereas  our  Northern  States  were  seriously  opposed 
to  it.  It  was  carried  on,  therefore,  chiefly  by  troops  from 
our  South,  though  they  were  led  by  officers  from  both  sides 
of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line. 

The  war  began  in  the  spring  of  1846,  General  Taylor 
being  the  commander  on  our  side.  In  consequence  of  the 
ambuscading  of  a  reconnoitring  party  which  Taylor  had 
sent  out  along  the  Texan  side  of  the  Rio  Grande,  which  was 
followed  by  the  crossing  of  that  river  by  the  Mexican  army, 
Taylor  gave  them  battle  at  Palo  Alto  and  at  Resaca  de  la 
Palma,  totally  defeating  them  on  both  occasions.  Camp 
equipage,  personal  baggage,  correspondence,  and  everything 


PAST,    PRESENT    AND    FUTURE  455 

else  was  abandoned  in  the  enthusiasm  of  their  flight,  and 
more  than  a  thousand  dead  hodies  of  Mexican  warriors  were 
left  upon  the  field.  The  war  might  have  ended  then  and 
there,  had  not  the  Mexican  president,  who  proposed  a  con- 
ference with  a  view  to  peace,  been  superseded  by  a  new 
president  before  our  commissioners  could  reach  the  Mexican 
capital  to  conclude  the  matter.  The  war  had  to  go  on ;  and 
now  that  American  blood  had  been  spilled,  there  was  no 
difficulty  in  any  part  of  the  States  about  supporting  our 
army  in  the  field.  The  Mexicans  being  no  longer  in  Texas, 
the  only  thing  to  do  was  to  follow  them  into  their  own 
country. 

As  we  have  already  observed,  the  territory  of  "New 
Spain"  covered  originally  the  vast  regions  now  occupied  by 
the  States  not  of  Texas  only,  but  of  New  Mexico,  California 
and  Arizona.  Our  plan  in  the  war  was  to  invade  the  heart 
of  the  enemy's  country,  and  dictate  terms  of  peace  at  the 
city  of  Mexico ;  and  meanwhile  to  take  possession  of  all  these 
outlying  regions,  and  hold  them  as  indemnity. 

Accordingly  we  sent  a  fleet  to  the  Californian  coast,  which 
took  possession  of  the  town  of -Monterey,  and  hoisted  the 
American  flag;  Colonel  Fremont  was  also  in  California,  and 
the  fleet  acted  in  conjunction  with  him.  There  was  no  resist- 
ance to  these  acts,  for  there  was  no  power  of  resistance  among 
the  scattered  Mexican  inhabitants.  It  was  a  mere  bloodless 
occupation  of  the  country;  and  never  perhaps  was  so  rich 
a  territory  so  easily  captured  from  an  enemy  before.  Rein- 
forcements had  meanwhile  been  dispatched  to  Taylor,  who 
advanced  to  the  large  inland  town  also  called  Monterey,  in 
the  State  of  Nueva  Leon.  Here  was  General  Ampudia  with 
ten  thousand  men  and  plenty  of  ammunition,  and  the  moun- 
tainous ridge  above  the  city  and  other  natural  features  ren- 
dered it  easily  defensible.  The  Americans  had  but  sixty-five 
hundred  men,  not  enough  to  invest  the  place :  and  the  Mexi- 
cans were  certain  that  this  time  they  were  sure  to  annihilate 
us.  The  Americans  attacked,  and  kept  up  the  assault  for 
four  days,  when  the  citadel  was  taken,  and  the  Mexicans 


45 G  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

who  were  left  alive  fled  to  Saltillo.  The  impossible  had  been 
accomplished  with  the  loss  of  but  one  hundred  and  twenty 
officers  and  men  killed  on  our  side,  while  fully  one  thousand 
of  the  enemy  fell.  But  Ampudia,  as  soon  as  he  had  recov- 
ered his  breath  from  his  flight,  issued  a  proclamation  account- 
ing for  the  defeat  by  ascribing  it  to  a  series  of  extraordinary 
accidents,  and  assuring  his  countrymen  that,  as  soon  as  his 
army  got  seriously  to  work,  it  would  have  no  difficulty  in 
exterminating  the  invaders.  As  for  Monterey,  he  asserted 
that  the  place  had  no  value.  The  Mexican  army  itself,  how- 
ever, had  begun  to  entertain  a  suspicion  that  possibly  Amer- 
ican soldiers  could  fight  after  all;  and  meanwhile  Ampudia 
continued  his  retrograde  movement  to  San  Luis  de  Potosi. 

At  this  stage  of  the  game  a  curious  interlude  took  place. 
Paredes,  president  at  this  moment,  planned  to  change  the 
form  of  government  to  a  monarchy;  and  busied  himself  at 
the  capital  wholly  with  preparations  to  carry  out  this  scheme, 
letting  the  invasion  of  his  country  and  the  rout  of  his  army 
pass  without  notice.  Santa  Anna,  then  in  Havana,  hearing 
of  this  design,  and  disapproving  of  it,  sent  word  that  he  sup- 
ported the  constitution  of  1824,  and  would,  if  invited,  come 
over  and  argue  the  matter  in  the  field.  Upon  this  news  be- 
ing conveyed  to  Washington,  Polk,  who  wished  to  avoid  all 
needless  bloodshed,  and  of  course  deprecated  the  establish- 
ment of  a  monarchy  on  western  soil,  proposed  that  Santa 
Anna  should  be  supported  as  against  Paredes,  and  to  that 
end  should  be  permitted  freely  to  enter  Mexico.  This  was 
good  diplomacy;  but  it  showed  ignorance  of  the  character 
of  Santa  Anna.  The  latter  landed  at  Vera  Cruz,  the  gar- 
rison of  which  pronounced  in  his  favor,  as  did  the  population 
of  the  capital,  and  Paredes  was  made  prisoner.  But  Santa 
Anna  now  declared  himself  opposed  not  only  to  Paredes,  but 
to  the  United  States  likewise;  and  he  further  announced  that 
he  came  to  fight  at  the  head  of  the  army,  and  not  to  accept 
political  power.  He  was  enthusiastically  received,  and 
marched  with  an  army  to  San  Luis  de  Potosi,  where  he 
proceeded  to  organize  resistance  to  the  Americans. 


PAST,    PRESENT    AND    FUTURE  457 

But  nothing  availed.  Santa  Anna  lost  the  battle  of  Buena 
Vista,  and  General  Winfield  Scott  landed  at  Vera  Cruz  with 
another  army  and  began  that  extraordinary  series  of  victories 
which  brought  him  at  last  to  the  valley  of  Mexico.  At  every 
step,  peace  was  offered  to  the  Mexicans,  but  they  were  bent 
upon  their  own  destruction,  and  refused  to  treat.  The  great 
difficulty  was  to  raise  funds;  and  it  was  finally  decided  to 
levy  on  the  enormous  property  which  the  Church  had  been 
laying  up  for  ceulniries.  The  priests  of  course  protested  as 
vehemently  as  they  dared,  and  there  was  a  reluctance  on  the 
part  of  the  people  to  force  them ;  besides,  much  of  the  prop- 
erty was  in  real  estate,  which  could  not  at  once  be  turned 
into  cash.  Little  was  therefore  obtained  by  this  device, 
though,  later,  the  Church  lost  most  of  its  wealth  through 
government  exactions.  But  Santa  Anna,  in  one  way  or  an- 
other, managed  to  keep  an  army  in  the  field;  and  having 
accepted  the  presidency  after  his  defeat  at  Buena  Vista,  hur- 
ried to  oppose  Scott's  advance  along  the  road  from  Vera 
Cruz.  He  met  his  second  defeat  at  Cerro  Gordo,  and  fell 
back  to  Puebla;  but  his  army  had  dissolved,  and  he  could 
not  persuade  the  Poblanos  to  support  him  with  another. 
Scott,  therefore,  occupied  the  place  without  a  battle.  Santa 
Anna  fled  to  Mexico  City,  where  he  felt  that  he  must  make 
a  success  or  fail  for  evermore.  To  avert  jealousies,  he  re- 
signed his  presidency,  and  was  rewarded  by  being  made 
dictator.  He  then  made  his  final  appeal  to  the  country,  and 
it  was  answered  with  an  army  of  twenty-five  thousand  men; 
and  once  more  the  Mexican  heart  was  fired  with  hope.  Surely 
these  barbarous  invaders  would  fail  to  capture  the  capital, 
defended  by  the  whole  strength  of  the  country !  And  if  they 
could  but  be  defeated,  not  one  of  them  should  reach  home 
alive. 

Scott  came  quietly  along,  and  reached  the  environs  of 
Mexico  in  August.  Santa  Anna  had  fortified  the  bridge  and 
church  of  Churubusco,  four  miles  south  of  the  city,  and 
erected  a  barrier  across  the  road  by  which  the  Americans 
must  advance;  but  General  Worth  caused  the  same  Indians 


458  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

who  had  erected  it  to  tear  it  down  again.  On  the  18th  of 
August  the  battle  took  place,  and  the  defeat  of  the  Mexicans 
was  if  possible  more  than  usually  thorough.  Many  of  their 
most  eminent  men  perished;  and  the  Mexicans  afterward, 
not  having  any  victory  to  celebrate,  actually  celebrated  this 
defeat  by  the  erection  of  a  monument  to  the  fallen;  appa- 
rently on  the  principle  that  the  more  men  are  killed  in  a  bat- 
tle, the  greater  is  the  glory  of  losing  it.  There  was  plenty 
of  glory  of  this  kind  for  the  Mexicans  in>  the  war.  Molino 
del  Key,  under  the  guns  of  Chapultepec,  was  the  next  strong- 
hold to  fall.  Chapultepec  itself  alone  remained,  and  it  was 
considered  wholly  impregnable;  but  it  had  already  been  es- 
tablished that  nothing  was  impregnable  which  was  defended 
by  Mexicans  and  attacked  by  Americans.  The  place  was 
captured  by  General  Pillow  on  the  13th  of  September:  the 
city  was  entered  a  few  days  later,  and  the  war  was  over, 
all  but  the  negotiations  over  the  peace  treaty.  In  this  the 
Mexicans  showed  to  better  advantage  than  on  the  field ;  and 
though  Mexican  territory  was  restricted  to  its  present  dimen- 
sions, Santa  Anna  contrived  to  induce  our  government  to  pay 
fifteen  million  dollars  under  the  name  of  indemnity.  Thus 
was  exemplified  the  truth  of  the  remark  by  Tennyson,  that 
"the  jingling  of  the  guinea  helps  the  hurt  that  honor  feels"; 
especially  when  the  honor  is  of  the  Spanish  strain.  We  have 
lately  applied  the  same  salve  to  wounded  Spanish  suscepti- 
bilities in  the  matter  of  the  Philippine  Islands.  But  the 
Mexicans  little  knew  what  they  were  disposing  of  for  this 
price.  No  sooner  had  California  become  ours  than,  as  if  to 
show  her  satisfaction,  she  opened  her  bosom,  and  revealed 
incalculable  wealth  of  gold.  Every  acquisition  of  territory 
which  we  have  made  has  turned  out  to  be  fortunate  beyond 
all  anticipation.  There  is  no  reason  to  fear  that  our  latest 
ones  will  be  otherwise. 

From  1848  to  1857  there  was  little  notable  in  Mexican 
affairs,  though  during  that  time  Santa  again  came  to  the 
surface  for  a  moment  as  dictator;  Herrera  and  Arista  exer- 
cised the  powers  of  government  moderately  and  beneficially, 


PAST,    PRESENT    AND    FUTURE  459 

and  Benito  Juarez,  an  Aztec  Indian,  proved  .himself  an  able 
and  liberal  ruler,  with  a  strong  conviction  that  Church  prop- 
erty, of  the  non-spiritual  sort,  should  be  handed  over  to  the 
State.  A  new  constitution,  declaring  that  the  source  of  gov- 
ernment was  in  the  people,  was  introduced  at  this  time,  arid 
might  have  been  generally  accepted,  but  for  the  episode  of 
the  French  intervention. 

Mexican  enemies,  chiefly  of  the  clerical  and  military  par- 
ties, had  exiled  themselves  to  Europe  when  President  Juarez 
and  his  liberal  constitution  came  to  power;  and  there  they 
set  to  work  to  plot  against  him.  Napoleon  III.  was  made 
privy  to  their  consultations,  and  a  scheme  was  formed  to  im- 
pose upon  Mexico  a  sovereign  selected  from  some  reigning 
family;  he  was  to  be  enthroned  by  French  influence  and 
power,  and  his  empire  would  be,  in  effect,  a  French  empire. 
In  other  words,  Napoleon  was  planning  for  his  own  exalta- 
tion and  the  glory  of  the  French  nation ;  and  the  other  plotters 
were  willing  to  accept  help  on  any  terms,  provided  only  that 
Jaurez  and  his  liberalism  were  done  away  with. 

Turning  now  to  the  practical  side  of  the  matter,  it  was 
seen  that  the  United  States  could  offer  no  substantial  resist- 
ance, because  she  was  over  head  and  ears  in  her  Civil  War; 
and  should  the  issue  of  that  struggle  be  in  favor  of  the  South, 
it  was  unlikely  she  would  ever  interfere  at  all;  in  any  event, 
she  would  hesitate  before  disturbing  a  fait  accompli.  The 
Monroe  Doctrine  was  nothing  but  a  doctrine,  and  there  was 
nothing  to  show  that  the  United  States  would  spend  blood 
or  money  to  uphold  it.  It  only  remained  therefore  for  Napo- 
leon to  find  a  pretext  for  getting  a  foothold  in  Mexico;  that 
done,  the  rest  could  be  made  to  follow  with  seeming  inevi- 
tableness.  The  pretext  was  at  hand ;  Mexico  had  borrowed 
sums  of  money  from  European  governments  during  her  time 
of  need,  and  Napoleon  would  demand  guarantees  for  the 
repayment  of  the  debts  due  to  France,  meanwhile  landing 
troops  to  remain  pending  settlement.  In  order  to  lend  dig- 
nity to  this  impudent  proceeding,  England  and  Spain,  who 
also  held  Mexican  bonds,  and  many  of  whose  subjects  resided 


460  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH   AMERICA 

in  Mexico,  were  requested  by  the  shrewd  French  emperor  to 
associate  themselves  with  the  French  in  a  "demonstration" 
— nothing  of  course  being  hinted  as  to  the  ulterior  object  of 
the  enterprise.  They  accepted  the  suggestion  in  good  faith, 
and  a  combined  French,  English  and  Spanish  fleet  entered 
the  harbor  of  Vera  Cruz,  and  summoned  the  Mexican  presi- 
dent to  comply  with  their  demands.  Juarez  was  not  un- 
versed in  diplomatic  resources,  and  he  somewhat  took  the 
wind  out  of  the  sails  of  the  allies  by  at  onde  acceding  to  their 
proposition.  The  English  and  the  Spanish  thereupon  retired ; 
but  the  French  renfained,  pretext  or  no  pretext ;  and  grad- 
ually the  real  cause  of  their  presence  began  to  leak  out.  As 
soon  as  it  was  realized,  Mexico  divided  up  into  two  hostile 
camps,  one  opposing  the  invaders,  the  other  favoring  them. 
Napoleon  sent  reinforcements,  and  many  Mexican  troops,  un- 
der the  leadership  of  General  Miiamon,  ranged  themselves 
with  them.  Juarez  was  forced  to  fight,  and  he  raised  a  small 
army,  which  valiantly  disputed  the  French  advance  on  the 
capital ;  and  on  the  5th  of  May  occurred  a  battle  at  Puebla 
in  which  the  patriots  under  General  Zaragoza  defeated  a  su- 
perior French  force  under  General  Lorencez.  This  "Cinco 
de  Mayo"  is  still  celebrated  by  the  Mexicans,  who,  in  truch, 
have  few  episodes  in  their  military  history  which  so  well 
justify  self-congratulation.  But  they  had  no  chance  against 
the  French;  and  the  latter  soon  after  captured  the  Cerro  de 
Borrego  by  a  brilliant  surprise,  recalling  Wolfe's  exploit  at 
Quebec.  Soon  after,  the  French  entered  the  capital,  and 
it  was  all  over.  It  was  a  very  clever,  contemptible  little 
plot,  deftly  carried  out.  Meanwhile  Napoleon  had  selected 
his  puppet  emperor  in  the  person  of  Maximilian,  a  prince  of 
the  house  of  Austria;  a  mild,  innocent,  romantic  youth, 
a  religious  bigot,  and  a  helpless  prey  to  the  feeble  vanities 
of  imperialism.  This  lamentable  being  ascended  the  throne 
of  the  Montezumas  with  all  available  pomp  and  ceremony; 
and  he  would  have  remained  nothing  more  than  a  historical 
absurdity  to  this  day,  had  he  not,  in  the  sequel,  been  digni- 
fied by  the  sentence  of  death  which  was  pronounced  and 


PAST,    PRESENT    AND    FUTURE  401 

executed  upon  him  by  the  leaders  of  the  revolution  which 
OA^erthrew  him.  He  was  from  the  first  at  war  with  perhaps 
a  majority  of  his  alleged  subjects;  and  in  1867,  when  the 
United  States  had  settled  its  internal  troubles,  it  conveyed 
a  strong  hint  to  Napoleon  that  unless  French  troops  were 
immediately  withdrawn  from  Mexican  soil,  the  terrible  army 
of  veterans  which  had  just  finished  the  greatest  war  of  the 
century  would  be  let  loose  upon  them.  Napoleon,  who  was 
seldom  a  fool,  took  the  hint  at  once;  and  Maximilian  was 
thus  left  unprotected.  He  was  shot  at  Queretaro  on  the  19th 
of  June,  1867. 

Juarez  now  resumed  his  interrupted  administration,  and 
was  made  dictator;  but  died  suddenly  in  1872.  Then  began 
the  last  chapter,  up  to  this  time,  of  Mexican  history.  Dur- 
ing the  midsummer  of  1876  a  fresh  revolution  suddenly  broke 
out,  with  Porfirio  Diaz  at  its  head.  This  man  was  an  Indian 
like  Juarez,  and  his  career  as  a  soldier  had  been  honorable 
and  distinguished.  He  had  fought  against  the  French  in- 
vasion, and  after  the  death  of  Maximilian  had  been  a  candi- 
date for  the  presidency;  and  when  Juarez  defeated  him  he 
ranged  himself  with  the  opposition.  He  was  now  in  the 
prime  of  life,  and  was  possessed  of  far  more  ability  of  various 
kinds  than  his  best  friends  yet  gave  him  credit  for.  The  war 
was  waged  after  the  usual  manner  of  these  civil  conflicts  in 
Mexico;  Diaz  prevailed,  and  in  1877  he  was  chosen  president 
for  three  years.  Save  for  an  interlude  in  1880  to  1884,  dur- 
ing which  his  friend  and  creature  Manuel  Gonzales  occupied 
the  office,  Diaz  has  been  the  actual  and  visible  head  of  the 
so-called  republic;  and  his  reign  has  been  almost  entirely 
beneficial.  There  have  been  no  more  revolutions,  "plans" 
or  pronunciamentoes.  The  country  has  immensely  increased 
in  prosperity  and  civilization;  and  had  the  other  Spanish 
American  states  equalled  or  even  nearly  approached  Mexico 
in  progress  and  development,  there  would  be  good  ground 
for  hoping  that  the  Latin  race  in  America  might  have  a 
future.  It  still  remains  to  be  seen  what  will  happen  after 
Diaz's  death:  and  he  is  now  all  but  seventy  years  of  age. 


462  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

We  can  hardly  expect  a  successor  like  himself ;  but  possibly 
the  people  have  grown  wise  during  their  long  peace,  and 
have  lost  that  fatal  proclivity  for  "plans"  and  their  sequels 
which  were  the  curse  of  the  country  for  more  than  half  a 
century. 

Central  America  is  a  term  applied  collectively  to  the 
republics  of  Guatemala,  Honduras,  Salvador,  Nicaragua 
and  Costa  Rica,  which,  from  1823  to  1839,  formed  a  federal 
republic.  Their  political  history  since  then  has  been  full 
of  petty  vicissitudes,  quarrels  between  rival  presidents,  and 
over  disputed  boundaries.  None  of  these  disputes  or  wars 
has  had  any  permanent  significance  beyond  the  interest  of 
those  immediately  concerned,  except  that  they  have  para- 
lyzed to  a  great  extent  the  industrial  life  of  the  inhabitants, 
and  have  prevented  the  employment  of  foreign  capital  in 
exploiting  their  resources.  The  name  Guatemala  was  orig- 
inally applied  to  a  region  including  all  the  present  Central 
American  States,  and  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  and  Yucatan. 
Modern  Guatemala  declared  its  independence  in  1821,  joined 
Iturbide,  and  formed  part  of  the  Confederation  from  1823  to 
1847,  when  it  was  established  as  an  independent  republic ;  it 
has  had  several  wars  with  Honduras  and  Salvador.  Hon- 
duras was  a  member  of  the  Central  American  union  from 
1824  to  1839,  since  when  it  has  been  independent.  Besides 
its  own  political  revolutions,  it  has  waged  wars  with  Salva- 
dor, Nicaragua  and  Guatemala.  It  is  a  country  of  many 
mountains  and  plateaus,  where  the  climate  is  temperate  and 
agreeable,  and  exceedingly  healthful.  It  has  a  quadrennial 
president  and  one  house;  it  would  be  an  excellent  field  for 
investment  were  its  government  stable.  Its  inhabitants  are 
chiefly  Mestizos  or  Indians.  The  modern  history  of  Salvador 
is  much  like  that  of  Honduras,  and  it  has  been  almost  con- 
stantly embroiled  during  its  existence  either  with  its  rulers 
or  its  neighbors.  Its  inhabitants  are  mainly  Indian  or  half- 
breeds,  only  five  per  cent  being  white;  it  has  no  manufact- 
ures to  speak  of,  and  its  exports  are  coffee,  hides,  sugar, 
indigo  and  Peruvian  balsam.  Costa  Rica  is  a  mountainous 


PAST,    PRESENT   AND   FUTURE  463 

country,  whose  chief  export  and  business  is  coffee.  It  bor- 
ders on  the  Caribbean,  and  was  one  of  the  "rich  coasts" 
which  aroused  the  golden  dreams  of  the  Spanish  discover- 
ers; but  little  of  value  to  the  world  has  been  derived  from 
it  as  yet.  Finally,  there  is  Nicaragua,  which  circumstances 
have  brought  into  prominent  notice  for  many  years  past,  and 
concerning  which  we  may  speak  more  in  detail. 

The  capital  of  Nicaragua  is  Managua,  and  its  chief  city 
is  Leon,  both  on  the  Pacific  coast ;  but  the  state  has  also  a 
Caribbean  shore.  From  southeast  to  northwest  it  is  trav- 
ersed by  a  depression,  which  includes  the  river  San  Juan 
and  lakes  Nicaragua  and  Managua;  thus  giving  a  water- 
way from  the  Caribbean  to  the  Pacific,  with  the  exception 
of  a  few  miles.  The  eastern  coast  is  low;  the  country  con- 
tains many  volcanoes,  and  is  subject  to  earthquakes.  It 
produces  gold  and  silver,  and  exports  the  usual  Central 
American  products.  It  is  governed  by  a  president  chosen 
for  four  years,  and  its  congress  consists  of  a  senate  and  a 
chamber  of  deputies.  It  has  been  an  independent  republic 
since  1840,  and  has  enjoyed  the  inevitable  series  of  revolts 
and  wars  which  belong  to  the  region.  In  1855  it  was  invaded 
by  William  Walker,  the  famous  filibuster,  who  took  advan- 
tage of  its  distracted  condition  to  realize  his  purposes  of  con- 
quest. He  had  with  him  fifty-eight  men;  but  he  defeated 
the  local  commander,  Guardiola,  on  September  3d,  and  cap- 
tured Granada,  the  capital.  The  next  year  he  was  made 
president;  but  the  other  states  combined  against  him,  and 
he  was  constantly  defeated,  and  finally  he  burned  and  aban- 
doned Granada  in  1857,  and  fled  to  Panama.  Two  efforts 
to  recover  the  country  failed,  and  in  I860  he  was  captured 
and  shot  in  Honduras. 

So  far  back  as  the  last  century  the  idea  of  making  a  canal 
through  Nicaragua  has  been  entertained  and  discussed,  and 
vast  sums  of  money  have  been  spent  in  preliminary  surveys 
and  tentative  excavations.  Manuel  Galisteo,  in  1781,  made 
an  exploration  and  survey  with  this  aim  in  view,  at  the 
instance  of  the  Spanish  Cortes;  in  1826  De  Witt  Clinton  had 


464  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

a  full  survey  made;  O.  W.  Childs  of  Philadelphia  did  the 
same  in  1851,  with  Cornelius  Vanderbilt  to  help  him.  Gen- 
eral Grant,  when  president,  caused  a  commission  to  report 
on  the  cost  of  the  work,  and  the  commission  determined 
it  to  be  about  one  hundred  and  forty  million  dollars.  But 
by  none  of  these  suggesters  or  promoters  were  any  steps 
taken  to  carry  the  enterprise  to  realization.  They  looked 
it  over,  and  then  left  it. 

In  1849,  1858,  and  1880  the  government  of  Nicaragua 
granted  concessions  to  American  and  French  parties  to  dig 
the  canal;  but  nothing  came  of  them.  In  1884  a  contract 
was  signed  for  the  building  of  the  canal  by  the  United  States, 
but  the  Senate  refused  to  ratify  it.  In  1887  the  Nicaraguan 
government  gave  a  100-year  concession  to  the  Nicaraguan 
Canal  Company;  which  the  latter  transferred  to  the  Mari- 
time Canal  Company  in  1889;  the  canal  was  to  be  completed 
in  five  years.  The  route  decided  upon  was  from  San  Juan 
del  Norte  on  the  Caribbean  to  Brito  on  the  Pacific,  about  one 
hundred  and  seventy  miles.  One  hundred  and  seventeen 
miles  of  this  was  to  be  through  the  lake  and  the  San  Juan 
River;  the  actual  digging  would  not  be  over  twenty-seven 
miles.  There  were  to  be  two  canals,  one  from  Ochoa  on  the 
river  to  the  port  of  San  Juan  del  Norte — about  thirty-five 
miles  including  river  basins;  and  the  other  from  Lake  Nica- 
ragua, at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Lajas,  to  Brito.  Each  canal 
would  have  three  locks  in  order  to  bring  the  water  to  a  level 
with  that  of  the  lake— one  hundred  and  ten  feet.  The  deep- 
est excavation,  one  hundred  and  forty-one  feet  over  a  distance 
of  three  miles,  would  be  across  the  divide  on  the  eastern  sec- 
tion. Subsidiary  works  would  be  a  dam  at  Ochoa,  improve- 
ment of  the  lake,  channels  and  harbors,  and  the  construction 
of  a  short  railway  line  for  transporting  machinery.  Upon 
this  programme  the  Company  got  to  work  in  1889;  but  its 
advertisements  for  subscriptions  in  London,  Paris  and  New 
York  were  entirely  unfruitful;  the  project  was  blacklisted 
as  a  financial  investment  everywhere.  Work  on  the  canal 
ceased  in  1891,  and  then  the  Company  turned  to  the  United 


PAST,    PRESENT   AND   FUTURE  4=65 

States  government  for  help — although  it  had  originally  de- 
clared that  it  would  be  absolutely  independent  of  all  outside 
assistance.  Congress  appointed  a  commission  to  inquire 
into  the  merits  of  the  affair;  their  report  was  a  very  ambig- 
uous recommendation:  they  opined  that  the  "enterprise  is 
full  of  promise,  unless  hindered  by  obstacles  or  sinister  influ- 
ences, such  as  would,  if  permitted  to  weigh,  forbid  the  suc- 
cess of  all  ventures."  This  was  taking  back  with  one  hand 
what  was  held  out  with  the  other;  but  there  was  good  ground 
for  caution.  The  estimates  made  by  the  company,  compared 
with  those  made  by  our  government  engineers,  differed  so 
much  at  every  point  that  the  discrepancy  became  suspicious. 
Thus,  the  estimate  of  the  Company  for  the  completion  of  the 
Greytown  harbor  was  two  million  one  hundred  and  fifty-one 
thousand  dollars;  that  of  our  government,  four  million  four 
hundred  and  eighty.  Our  government  estimated  the  Brito 
terminal  at  a  cost  of  four  million  three  hundred  and  ninety- 
eight  thousand  dollars;  the  Company,  at  one  million  nine 
hundred  and  twenty.  The  estimate  of  the  Company  for  the 
completion  of  the  San  Juan  River  division  was  one  million 
nine  hundred  and  seventy-five  dollars;  that  of  our  govern- 
ment, fourteen  million  eight  hundred  and  sixty-six  thousand 
— a  discrepancy  of  not  less  than  twelve  million  and  odd  dol- 
lars. The  natural  conclusion  from  this  showing  is,  that  the 
Company  deliberately  underestimated  the  cost  of  its  under- 
taking; and  in  consequence  both  houses  of  Congress  ad- 
journed without  taking  any  action  upon  the  bill. 

Moreover,  a  communication  was  received  from  the  min- 
ister of  Nicaragua  and  the  allied  republics,  in  January,  1897, 
pointing  out  that  the  Company  had  violated  its  contract  in 
various  material  points,  thereby  voiding  its  charter,  and  add- 
ing that,  since  it  was  evident  that  the  Company  could  not 
raise  money  to  fulfil  its  contract  unless  the  United  States 
should  furnish  it,  the  governments  concerned  should  come 
to  a  direct  understanding  on  the  subject  of  the  construction 
of  the  canal,  on  the  basis  of  a  former  treaty  made  between 
them,  and  try  to  reach  an  arrangement  with  the  Company 


466  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

so  that  it  might  renounce  a  concession  whose  conditions  it 
could  not  fulfil.  And  certainly  there  seems  to  be  no  reason 
why  our  government  should  not  control  and  administer  the 
funds  for  the  canal,  if  it  itself  provides  them.  No  private 
corporation  is  needed  in  the  premises.  It  is  a  fortunate  cir- 
cumstance on  the  other  hand  that  the  Nicaraguan  and  Costa 
Rican  governments  have  always  showed  themselves  well 
disposed  to  the  enterprise;  for  the  destruction  of  this  canal 
would  be  a  matter  of  no  difficulty.  Not  being  built,  like 
those  of  Suez  and  Corinth,  on  the  sea-level,  but  complicated 
with  an  elaborate  system  of  locks,  dams  and  special  struct- 
ures, its  value  could  easily  be  destroyed  by  even  a  single 
person  working  for  an  hour  with  an  axe  and  spade.  Its 
preservation  amid  a  hostile  population  would  be  impossible. 
Even  under  the  most  favorable  conditions,  it  would  always 
be  at  the  mercy  of  an  earthquake,  and  might  be  seriously 
endangered  by  the  heavy  rains,  which  on  the  east  coast  fall 
to  the  annual  depth  of  fifteen  feet,  and  render  the  lower  part 
of  the  San  Juan  River  entirely  impracticable  for  the  use  of 
the  canal,  as  its  raging  torrent  during  the  rainy  season  would 
be  beyond  all  control. 

The  commission  above  quoted  made  the  recommendation 
that  another  survey  and  estimate  of  the  proposed  work  be 
made,  in  order  that  a  final  and  authoritative  conclusion 
might  be  reached  as  to  whether  the  work  were,  upon  the 
whole,  feasible.  Since  then,  President  McKinley  has  caused 
such  a  survey  and  estimate  to  be  made;  and  though  some 
minor  complications  have  arisen,  it  is  probable  that  the  canal 
may  be  dug  and  controlled  by  our  government.  There  must 
always  remain  a  slight  element  of  risk  in  the  work;  but  its 
utility  would  be  so  vast,  and  the  commercial  returns  so  great, 
that  possible  obstacles  should  not  be  permitted  to  weigh  too 
heavily  against  it. 

The  Panama  Canal  project  is  quite  as  well  known  as  the 
Nicaraguan  one,  and  not  long  ago  its  chances  of  being  real- 
ized seemed  greater.  Numerous  surveys  were  made,  from 
1828  onward,  both  by  the  United  States  and  others;  and  in 


PAST,    PRESENT   AND    FUTURE  467 

1877  the  Colombian  government,  within  whose  jurisdiction 
the  region  of  the  canal  would  lie,  granted  to  a  Frenchman 
named  Wyse  a  concession  for  its  building.  The  chief  backer 
of  the  scheme  was  Ferdinand  de  Lesseps,  at  whose  invitation 
an  internatioal  scientific  congress  met  at  Paris,  in  May,  1879. 
De  Lesseps  had  the  prestige  of  the  Suez  Canal  to  bank  on, 
and  he  inspired  great  confidence.  The  American  delegates 
to  the  congress  refrained,  however,  from  joining  in  the  final 
vote,  which  was  taken  after  a  short  session,  and  without 
considering  alternative  schemes.  It  decided  on  the  Panama 
route,  and  a  company  was  at  once  formed.  De  Lesseps  then 
visited  the  Isthmus  in  person,  and  asserted,  as  an  engineer, 
that  the  work  could  easily  be  accomplished.  The  Wyse  con- 
cession was  purchased,  an  international  technical  committee 
decided  that  the  cost  would  be  one  hundred  and  sixty-nine 
million  dollars,  shares  were  placed  on  sale  and  eagerly  bought 
up,  and  the  digging  began.  The  chosen  route  was  close  to 
the  Panama  Railroad,  crossing  the  winding  Chagres  River  six 
times,  and  involving  a  long  and  deep  cut  through  the  Central 
Cordillera.  The  Chagres  River  is  liable  to  deep  floods  dur- 
ing the  rainy  season,  but  it  was  designed  to  control  these  by 
dams.  Numbers  of  negroes  from  Jamaica  and  elsewhere 
were  employed  in  the  work,  which  was  carried  on,  with 
some  interruptions,  from  1881  to  March  of  1889;  at  which 
time  the  company  went  into  liquidation.  Up  to  that  time 
it  had  spent  more  than  two  hundred  and  sixty  million  dol- 
lars, the  major  part  of  which  had  been  contributed  by  the 
middle  classes  in  France,  together  with  the  proceeds  of  lot- 
teries authorized  by  the  French  government.  This  enormous 
sum  had  sufficed  for  the  digging  of  twelve  miles  only  of  the 
fi^-four  which  were  to  be  excavated;  and  the  part  thus  fin- 
ished did  not  include  the  more  difficult  portions.  The  cost 
of  the  Suez  Canal  was  about  one  million  dollars  per  mile, 
and  the  estimated  cost  of  the  Nicaragua  not  much  more;  but 
the  Panama  Canal  was  costing  at  the  rate  of  more  than 
twelve  million  dollars  per  mile.  It  seemed  plain  that  there 
had  been  gross  frauds  connected  with  the  business;  and  in 


468  HISTORY   OF   SPANISH   AMERICA 

1892  De  Lesseps  and  the  engineer  Eiffel  were  arrested  on 
charges  of  dishonesty.  Their  trial  showed  that  a  large  part 
of  the  funds  had  been  used  in  subsidizing  the  French  press 
and  in  bribing  members  of  the  legislature.  There  are  still 
not  wanting  advocates  of  the  Panama  route;  but  it  is  un- 
likely that  it  will  be  preferred  before  that  of  Nicaragua  by 
responsible  persons.  The  Nicaraguan  is  more  convenient 
for  the  United  States,  and  that  fact  alone  would  be  enough 
to  determine  the  question.  It  is  practically  certain  that, 
wherever  the  canal  is  built,  and  by  whomsoever  the  work 
is  done,  the  control  of  it  must  be  vested  solely  in  the  United 
States.  Our  ships,  both  in  peace  and  in  war,  must  have  the 
right  of  way  through  it,  and  the  power  to  deny  that  right, 
upon  occasion,  to  the  ships  of  other  nations. 

In  South  America,  within  recent  times,  the  most  con- 
spicuous event  has  been  the  disgraceful  civil  war  in  Chili, 
between  President  Balmaceda's  party  and  that  of  the  Con- 
gress. The  war  took  place  in  1891,  but  the  causes  leading 
up  to  it  had,  of  course,  been  long  brewing. 

Elections  had  long  been  "scenes  of  riot  and  bloodshed.  In 
1882  two  men  were  killed  and  seven  wounded;  seventeen 
were  killed  and  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  wounded  in  1885; 
and  in  1886  forty-six  were  killed  and  one  hundred  and  sixty 
wounded.  The  voting  population  was  only  one-fiftieth  of 
the  number  of  males  in  the  country,  which  makes  this  show- 
ing so  much  the  more  remarkable.  Balmaceda  was  the  mau 
chosen  in  the  1886  election,  he  having  had  the  support  of  the 
retiring  Santa  Maria  government.  With  his  advent  to  power 
came  rumor  of  various  reforms  such  as  we  are  constantly 
hearing  promised  in  our  own  political  campaigns.  Subsidies 
were  voted  for  the  completion  of  railways ;  telephones  were 
put  up,  and  educational  affairs  were  promoted.  In  spite 
of  all  expenditures,  the  government  was  able  to  show  a 
good  balance  sheet.  Import  duties  were  lowered  in  1889 
and  1890,  a  new  line  of  steamers  was  subsidized.  But  all 
this  had  not  the  effect  of  quieting  opposition ;  it  was  said  by 


PAST,    PRESENT    AND    FUTURE  469 

conservatives  that  the  money  spent  in  internal  improvements 
should  have  been  used  to  pay  the  public  debts ;  Balmaceda 
was  denounced  as  a  tyrant;  and  when  it  was  learned  that 
he  had  selected  San  Fuentes  as  his  successor  (a  man  very 
unpopular  with  many)  the  outcry  became  violent,  and  even 
suine  of  the  liberals  joined  in  it.  Serious  trouble  was  on 
the  way. 

The  constitution  of  1833,  amended  in  1874,  was  still  the 
law  of  the  land,  but  had  been  often  strained  in  one  place, 
and  suffered  to  become  inoperative  in  another.  By  its  pro- 
visions the  president  has  far  more  personal  power  than  with 
us;  if  he  chooses,  he  can  be  practically  autocratic.  Should 
a  president  arise  who  disagreed  with  congress,  their  only 
defence  against  him  would  be  their  power  to  withhold  money 
supplies.  In  other  ways  he  was  their  master  and  that  of  the 
country.  Balmaceda  gradually  became  hostile  to  the  con- 
gress, and  by  January  of  1891  he  was  supported  only  by 
those  liberals  who  were  office-holders  or  otherwise  personally 
concerned  in  offices;  the  rest  of  the  party,  and  of  course  the 
conservatives,  were  against  him.  He  was  as  obstinate  as  a 
Spanish  mule,  and  quite  as  intelligent.  He  was  as  wedded 
to  "his  policy"  as  ever  was  our  own  Andrew  Johnson.  Min- 
istry after  ministry  resigned;  special  sessions  were  called; 
supplies  were  refused;  the  ugly  and  childish  spectacle  of  one 
branch  of  the  government  trying  in  all  ways  to  paralyze  the 
action  of  the  other  was  presented  in  all  its  forms. 

Early  in  January,  1891,  the  congress  had  ceased  to  have 
any  legal  existence,  and  it  had  deposed  Balmaceda,  who  was 
exercising  dictatorial  functions.  Jorge  Montt  of  the  navy 
was  empowered  by  the  non-existent  congress  to  assume  pro- 
visional command ;  and  upon  this  absurd  state  of  things,  civil 
war  broke  out.  The  navy  declared  for  congress ;  the  army 
followed  the  president.  This  was  a  disappointment  to  the 
navy,  which  had  expected  to  have  the  army  with  them; 
the  army  had  followed  Balmaceda,  however,  not  from  any 
patriotic  motives — such  would  have  been  out  of  place  in  Chili 
—but  from  jealousy  of  the  navy,  and  from  regard  to  their 


470  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

own  pockets,  Balmaceda  having  increased  their  pay.  There 
were  seven  ships  in  the  navy,  including  two  ironclads;  they 
gathered  at  Quintero.  Pisagua  was  the  first  point  of  attack, 
important  on  account  of  its  nitrate  trade;  it  was  easily  cap- 
tured; but  was  recaptured  by  a  party  of  government  (Bal- 
macedist)  troops,  who  had  just  defeated  an  undrilled  con- 
gressionist  force.  But  the  fleet,  after  a  heavy  bombardment, 
took  the  place  once  more.  A  detachment  of  government 
troops  was  about  the  same  time  defeated  by  revolutionists 
at  San  Francisco;  the  remnant  retreated  upon  I  pique,  which 
was  the  real  objective  of  the  navy  party.  But  the  Ipique 
garrison  had  left  the  place  in  order  to  support  the  defeated 
detachment ;  and  during  its  absence,  Ipique  was  occupied  by 
the  revolutionists.  Another  government  force  under  Colonel 
Soto  then  carried  Ipique  by  assault ;  but  the  fleet  was  at  hand 
to  bombard  him  out  of  it  again.  There  were  five  thousand 
government  troops  scattered  about  the  neighborhood,  against 
two  thousand  of  the  enemy ;  but  there  was  no  co-operation. 
Boys,  playing  at  soldiers,  could  have  done  better. 

Ipique  surrendered  with  two  million  rounds  of  ammuni- 
tion. It  was  occupied  with  all  haste  by  three  thousand  con- 
gressionist  troops;  for  it  was  the  key  of  the  situation.  But 
the  attack  by  the  government  army  was  delayed  by  bad 
management;  finally  a  battle  was  fought  outside;  Robles, 
the  government  leader,  was  mortally  wounded,  and  his  troops 
were  cut  to  pieces.  This  defeat  demoralized  the  supporters  of 
Balmaceda ;  everybody  ran  away  from  him.  He  had  started 
with  the  odds  in  his  favor;  they  were  now  against  him. 
Many  of  the  army  officers  joined  the  congress  party.  Kor- 
ner,  a  Prussian  tactician,  sold  his  services  to  congress,  and 
there  was  no  one  to  match  him  on  the  president's  side. 
Four  provinces,  including  the  rich  Tarapaca  nitrate  desert, 
were  in  the  congressionists'  hands.  Balmaceda  had  the  big 
towns,  but  the  revolutionists  had  the  source  of  wealth ;  and 
they  busied  themselves  in  assembling,  furnishing  and  drill- 
ing an  excellent  army.  Balmaceda  indeed  had  contrived  to 
raise  more  men,  but  their  morale  was  poor;  he  had  been  able 


PAST,    PRESENT    AND    FUTURE  471 

to  obtain  but  three  ships.  He  perceived  that  he  could  gain 
nothing  by  waiting,  and  might  lose  everything,  for  the  dis- 
orders in  the  country  were  atrocious.  It  was,  says  a  writer 
in  "Blackwood's  Magazine,"  "overrun  with  spies;  private 
correspondence  was  not  sacred,  freedom  of  speech  was  for- 
bidden, the  press  was  almost  suppressed,  and  no  one  sus- 
pected of  being  unfavorable  to  the  government  was  in 
safety.  Imprisonment,  floggings,  tortures,  and  inspection 
of  houses  at  all  hours  of  the  day  or  night  were  of  frequent 
occurrence."  Balmaceda  had  been  technically  in  the  right 
in  his  original  quarrel  with  congress,  which  arose  over  a 
question  of  appointments ;  but  his  assumption  of  dictatorial 
powers  was  inexcusable.  He  must  act,  or  disappear. 

Two  of  his  three  ships  were  torpedo  boats;  and  they 
succeeded  in  torpedoing  the  enemy's  flagship  "Blanco  En- 
calada, "  which  sank  with  two  hundred  and  forty-five  men 
in  three  minutes.  Then  they  attacked  a  transport,  which 
escaped  with  heavy  loss.  This  exploit  caused  government 
stock  to  rise  a  little,  and  the  rest  of  the  enemy's  fleet  kept 
out  of  the  way.  One  of  the  torpedo  boats  and  the  other 
government  ship,  the  "Imperial,"  then  made  a  cruise 
along  the  coast,  but  did  little  damage.  The  revolutionists 
bribed  three  01  the  crew  of  a  government  torpedo  launch, 
the  "Aldea,"  to  take  the  boat  out  to  sea  and  ieliver 
her  to  one  of  their  warships;  they  did  their  part  of  the 
work,  but  the  warship  was  late,  the  launch  was  discovered 
by  the  torpedo  boat,  and  the  three  bribe-takers  were  shot. 
Such  was  the  character  of  the  men  engaged  in  this  war. 

The  term  of  the  congress  expired  and  the  new  one  favored 
Balmaceda,  who  now  chose  as  his  successor  Claudio  Vicuna. 
But  this  had  no  effect  upon  the  war;  only  that  it  was  held 
desirable  by  the  revolutionists  to  win  a  decisive  battle  before 
Vicuna  came  into  power.  They  brought  down  their  army 
from  the  north  and  landed  it  at  Quintero  without  opposition; 
though  the  government  troops  numbered  nearly  four  times 
as  many  as  theirs.  But  there  were  many  men  in  the  south 
who  were  only  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  northern  army  to 


472  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

act  with  it;  and  Balmaceda's  troops  were  scattered  all  over 
the  country,  in  the  vain  endeavor  to  protect  the  whole  of 
it  at  once.  The  two  armies  which  finally  met  at  Concon 
each  numbered  about  nine  thousand  men.  After  a  little 
manoauvring,  the  government  troops  were  feinted  into  a 
position  where  they  were  exposed  to  a  cross  fire,  and  also  to 
the  guns  of  two  ironclads  which  crept  up  the  river.  After 
several  hours'  exposure  to  this  murderous  fire,  Balmaceda's 
men  fled,  leaving  three  thousand  dead  and  wounded  behind 
them.  The  total  loss  of  the  other  side  was  under  one  thou- 
sand. But  these  are  huge  figures,  when  we  consider  that 
but  eighteen  thousand  men  in  all  were  engaged.  And  all — 
for  what? 

Balmaceda  still  had  twenty  thousand  men  in  reserve; 
had  he  had  them  on  the  field  of  battle  the  issue  would  have 
been  different.  Canto,  the  revolutionary  general,  advanced 
on  Valparaiso.  The  government  generals  Barbosa  and  Al- 
zerreca,  after  a  private  quarrel  as  to  whether  to  fight  at 
once  or  to  await  reinforcements,  decided  to  meet  Canto's 
twelve  thousand  confident  men  with  their  nine  thousand 
disheartened  ones.  Indeed,  just  before  the  battle,  four  hun- 
dred of  them  deserted  to  the  enemy.  Barbosa,  however,  had 
a  strong  position  on  a  ridge,  with  artillery.  Canto  advanced 
steadily,  with  Korner  to  advise  him.  The  government  right 
wing  was  so  hard  pressed  that  the  artillery  in  the  centre  was 
directed  thither  to  help  it ;  when  Korner  by  a  detour  turned 
the  government's  left ;  the  cavalry  charged,  and  the  day  was 
won.  Twenty-five  hundred  men  were  killed  and  wounded 
on  the  loser's  side,  and  fourteen  hundred  on  that  of  the  win- 
ner. Barbosa  and  Alzerreca  both  fell.  Many  Balmacedist 
refugees  sought  shelter  on  board  the  United  States  ship 
"Baltimore" ;  our  country  had  sympathized  with  Balmaceda 
in  the  war.  There  was  a  great  slaughter  in  the  city,  and  five 
hundred  corpses  were  picked  up  in  the  streets  next  morning; 
the  houses  had  been  sacked,  and  drunken  men  and  women 
had  danced  in  the  midst  of  the  massacre.  At  Santiago  the 
same  scenes  occurred.  Balmaceda  shot  himself  on  the  18th 


PAST,    PRESENT    AND    FUTURE  473 

of  September.  A  junta  del  gobierno  ruled  the  country  till 
November,  when  Captain  Moutt  was  chosen  president. 
Vicuna  escaped  to  the  United  States.  The  feeling  against 
our  country  among  the  successful  revolutionists  was  bitter ; 
we  had  given  moral  support  to  the  government,  had  chased 
the  "Itata"  ironclad  for  violating  neutrality  laws,  and  had 
allowed  the  "Baltimore"  to  be  used  as  a  refuge  by  the  de- 
feated. A  number  of  "Baltimore"  men  were  attacked  in 
the  streets  of  Valparaiso  and  stabbed.  President  Harrison 
demanded  an  apology,  which  was  made  by  Chili,  and  sev- 
enty-five thousand  dollars  was  paid  to  the  families  of  the 
murdered  sailors.  A  treaty  between  the  two  countries  was 
signed  the  next  year. 

We  have  treated  this  affair  at  some  length,  not  because 
it  has  any  dignity  or  importance  in  itself,  but  because  it 
affords  a  good  illustration  of  the  character  of  the  Spanish 
Americans  of  South  America.  The  Chilians  are  considered 
to  compare  favorably  with  the  other  South  American 
people ;  they  have  an  appearance  of  energy  and  progressive- 
ness.  But  they  are  untrustworthy,  and  cannot  be  considered 
civilized.  At  any  moment,  by  a  wanton  outbreak  of  sav- 
agery, they  are  liable  to  undo  the  work  of  years.  Were  it 
not  for  the  strong  influence  of  German,  English  and  Ameri- 
can residents,  they  would  probably  have  destroyed  them- 
selves long  since. 

Peru  has  been  gradually  recovering  from  the  effects 
of  her  war  with  Chili ;  and  the  Argentine  Republic  is  again 
on  the  road  to  prosperity,  after  the  serious  overthrow  of  her 
finances  some  years  ago.  The  smaller  northern  states  have 
done  nothing  to  attract  attention  of  late,  beyond  their  usual 
internal  dissensions;  but  Venezuela  came  near  bringing  on 
trouble  between  England  and  the  United  States,  owing  to 
the  arbitrary  and  unjust  conduct  of  England  over  a  boun- 
dary question.  President  Cleveland  interfered  with  extraor- 
dinary bluntness,  and  it  seemed  for  some  months  as  if  war 
were  inevitable;  but  England  kept  her  temper,  as  she  is  apt 
to  do  when  there  is  good  reason  for  it,  and  the  trouble  blew 


474  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

over. — Concerning  Brazil,  which  is  a  Portuguese  country  by 
conquest  and  occupation,  though  long  since  independent,  this 
history  can  have  nothing  to  say;  but  it  may  be  remarked 
that  there  is  an  opening  for  foreign  capital  in  that  vast 
country  which  may,  in  the  course  of  years,  prove  more 
attractive  than  most  other  South  American  investments. 

We  have  now  to  consider  the  present  condition  of  Porto 
Rico  and  Cuba.     A  general  description  of  Porto  Rico  has 
already  been  given ;  but  as  it  is  the  only  one  of  the  "West 
Indian  islands  which   has  come  into  the  possession  of  this 
country,  it  merits  some  further  attention.     Although  Ad- 
miral  Sampson  had  dropped  a  few  shells  into  San  Juan, 
while  cruising  in  search  of  Cervera's  fleet,  no  attempt  to 
occupy  the  island  had  been  made  up  to  the  date  of  the  sur- 
render of  Santiago  de  Cuba.     Major-General  Miles  then  set 
out  for  the  place  with  transports  containing  about  thirty-five 
hundred  men;  these  had  been  sent  out  originally  to  serve  in 
Cuba;  but  the  conquest  of  that  island  having  been  accom- 
plished without  need  of  them,   they  were  headed  for  the 
smaller  dependency.      The  expedition   started  on  the  21st 
of  July,  and  was  understood  to  be  bound  for  San  Juan ;  but 
Miles  altered  the  destination  of  the  fleet,  in  order  to  surprise 
the  Spanish  defenders,  and  landed  his  troops  on  the  south 
coast,  at  Guanica,  on  the  25th,  meeting  with  no  resistance. 
From  Guanica  as  a  base  he  advanced  on  Ponce,  which  sur- 
rendered with  a  show  of  enthusiasm.     Another  expedition 
had  meanwhile  left  from  points  on  our  coast,  and  another 
landing  was  effected  on  the  east  coast,  bringing  the  total 
of  our  forces  in  the  island  up  to  seventeen  thousand  men. 
Miles's  plan  was  now  to  bring  these  forces  together  on  con- 
verging lines  upon  San  Juan,  passing  through  some  chief 
towns  on  the  way.     He  aimed  first  at  Aibonito,  while  Gen- 
eral Brooke  marched  toward  Cayey,  and  General   Wilson 
went  north  toward  Arecibo.     The  enemy  had  fallen  back, 
and  was  not  overtaken  till  shortly  before  the  middle  of  Au- 
gust,  when  Spanish  troops   were  discovered  in  a  fortified 


PAST,    PRESENT    AND    FUTURE  475 

position  on  a  pass  over  the  hills.  The  attack  was  just  about 
being  delivered,  when  a  messenger  arrived  bringing  the 
news  that  a  protocol  had  been  signed  outlining  terms  of 
peace  between  Spain  and  the  United  States,  and  that 
hostilities  were  therefore  at  an  end. 

Six  commissioners,  three  on  a  side,  met  at  San  Juan  on 
the  6th  of  September  to  settle  the  details  of  the  cession  and 
evacuation  by  the  Spanish  of  the  island.     Schley,  Brooke 
and  Gordon  represented  the  United  States,  and  the  confer- 
ences were  easy  and    amicable;    the    American   flag  was 
hoisted  on  the  18th  of  October.     Eight  thousand  American 
troops  were  assigned  to  duty  on  the  island  under  Brooke, 
who  was  presently  succeeded  by  General   Guy  V.  Henry. 
The  task  before  us  is  to  educate  the  inhabitants  to  a  moral 
and    intellectual    level    where    they    may    be    enabled    to 
govern   themselves   according  to  the  laws  of  the   United 
States  Constitution.      For  the  present  the  island  is  on  the 
footing  of  a  territory,  and  the  government  is  of  the  military 
sort;   but  it  is  not  contemplated  to  continue  this  situation 
permanently.     The  great  proportion  of  the  islanders  are  of 
white  blood;   but  neither  during  their  occupation  of  Porto 
Rico,   nor   while  they  were   still   denizens  of  the   Spanish 
peninsula,  did  they  have  any  experience  of  the  working  of 
democratic   principles.      The   relation    between   rulers   and 
people  was,  for  them,  always  that  between  master  and  ser- 
vant; and  if  we  trace  the  Latin  race  back  to  the  earliest 
times,  we  shall  always  find  this  principle  in  force.     It  is 
deeply  seated  in  their  blood;  and  we  have  seen  by  instances 
adduced  in  this  volume  that  when  the  attempt  has  been  made 
by  revolted  colonies  of  Latin  blood  to  rule  themselves,  the  re- 
sult has  been,  at  best,  the  letter  of  democracy  without  the 
spirit:  the  form  without  the  substance.     It  has  seemed  to  be 
impossible  for  them  to  be  quiet  except  when  ruled  by  the 
strong  hand,  and  deprived  of  every  responsibility  of  govern- 
ment; just  in  such  measure  as  they  have  been  permitted  to 
manage  things  for  themselves,  have  these  people  misman- 
aged them.     Education  has  had  little  or  no  effect  in  abating 
—  21 


476  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

this  characteristic ;  there  are  many  Latins  who  in  intellect- 
ual calibre  and  cultivation  are  the  equals  of  the  most  accom- 
plished Anglo-Saxons;  but  such  men  have  been  just  as  far 
from  the  idea  of  true  democracy  as  have  the  ignorant  un- 
derlings. They  have  been  content  either  to  obey  the  com- 
mands of  an  appointed  sovereign,  or  to  exercise  sovereign 
powers  over  others;  but  to  rule  themselves  in  equality  and 
peace  has  never  been  possible  to  them. 

Just  the  opposite  has  always  been  the  case  with  the 
Anglo-Saxon.  From  the  moment  when  he  first  appears 
upon  the  stage  of  history,  we  find  him  self-respecting  and 
personally  independent.  Whenever  his  liberties  have  been 
infringed,  he  has  been  in  a  state  of  either  actual  or  potential 
rebellion.  His  freedom  is  not  impaired  by  the  name  and 
outward  form  which  he  may  choose  to  bestow  upon  his  gov- 
ernment ;  whether  it  be  a  limited  constitutional  monarchy  as 
in  England,  or  a  monarchy  of  a  stricter  and  more  preten- 
tious aspect  as  in  Germany,  or  an  explicit  republic  as  in  the 
United  States,  the  practical  result  is  the  same;  each  citizen 
is  his  own  owner  and  sovereign.  He  could  not  endure,  and 
he  has  never  been  able  to  endure,  the  feeling  that  any  other 
man  was  his  master.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race,  especially  the  British  branch  of  it,  has  shown  remark- 
able ability  to  rule  other  races  with  a  vigorous  but,  upon 
the  whole,  just  and  temperate  hand.  The  British  people 
are  the  result  of  a  natural  growth,  continued  through  many 
centuries ;  the  people  of  the  United  States  are  the  result  of 
an  extreme  theory  carried  into  practical  working;  and 
though  this  theory  has  accompanied  an  enormous  progress 
and  prosperity,  many  critics  still  doubt  whether  it  can  ulti- 
mately succeed.  The  United  States  has  accepted  immi- 
grants from  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  has  assimilated  them 
with  her  population.  Notwithstanding  this  vast  influx  of 
heterogeneous  material,  the  Anglo-Saxon  predominance  in 
the  country  has  not  been  overcome;  though  it  may  be  sur- 
mised that  so  far  as  the  principle  of  popular  government  here 
has  failed  to  realize  the  benefits  expected  from  it,  the  cause 


PAST,    PRESENT    AND    FUTURE  477 

may  be  sought  in  the  large  Latin  mixture  in  the  population. 
Those  Latins  who  are  our  citizens  require  several  genera- 
tions before  they  can  be  regarded  as  thoroughly  inoculated 
with  Anglo-Saxon  conceptions;  and  during  these  generations 
their  blood  has  been  modified  by  Anglo-Saxon  infiltrations, 
so  that  they  can  no  longer  be  called  pure  Latins;  besides 
which  they  have  had  the  benefit  of  dwelling  in  the  midst  of 
the  great  democracy.  But  our  English,  Irish  and  German 
immigrants  have  needed  no  such  apprenticeship ;  they  have 
embraced  and  comprehended  the  democratic  idea  at  once. 

If  Porto  Rico  prove  to  be  valuable  as  a  commercial  pos- 
session and  a  centre  of  agriculture  and  other  industries,  it  is 
certain  to  attract  many  settlers  from  this  country ;  and  they 
will  inevitably  give  the  tone  to  its  population,  and  subdue 
and  mold  it  to  themselves  by  natural  process.  The  Spanish 
Creoles  will  accommodate  themselves  to  the  novel  conditions; 
and  when  the  present  generation  has  passed  away,  and  their 
children  and  children's  children  have  succeeded  them,  the 
lesson  of  self-government  will  have  been  tolerably  well 
learned.  But  should  American  settlement  in  the  island  be 
for  any -reason  discouraged,  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether 
the  native  Porto  Ricans  will  ever  become  fitted  to  take  their 
place  as  full-fledged  American  citizens.  They  will  have  to 
be  governed  much  after  the  fashion  that  England  governs 
India.  We  shall  find  it  futile  to  apply  to  them  the  same 
principles  which  are  natural  to  ourselves.  They  will  do  as 
they  are  told,  but  they  will  not  learn  to  tell  themselves  what 
to  do.  Wo  can  give  them  the  material  benefits  of  political 
and  religious  liberty,  but  we  cannot  implant  in  their  souls 
the  instinct  which  would  prompt  them  to  exercise  in  an  or- 
derly and  consistent  manner  the  functions  of  which  liberty 
is  the  fruit.  Should  we  leave  them  to  their  own  devices, 
they  would  make  themselves  the  prey  of  alternate  despotism 
and  anarchy,  as  we  have  seen  their  blood-brethren  do  in 
Central  and  South  America.  The  only  conclusion  we  can 
form  on  these  premises  seems  to  be,  that  the  political  situa- 
tion in  the  Spanish  Americas  cannot  be  permanent.  There 


478  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

will  never  be  internal  peace  and  settled  order  in  those  coun- 
tries so  long  as  they  are  left  to  their  own  guidance.  But  in- 
asmuch as  they  include  some  of  the  richest  and  most  desir- 
able regions  on  the  globe,  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  they 
will  always  be  left  to  themselves.  The  situation  already 
mentioned  in  Chili,  where  foreigners  conduct  and  keep 
going  the  industrial  and  commercial  activities,  will  obtain 
more  and  more  with  each  generation,  until  at  length  the 
term  Spanish  America  will  become  a  mere  historical  remi- 
niscence, instead  of  a  contemporary  fact.  The  Spanish  Cre- 
oles will  be  absorbed  and  will  disappear,  and  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  will  take  their  place. 

These  considerations  should  be  borne  in  mind  when  we 
study  the  prospects  of  the  island  of  Cuba,  the  richest  and 
most  attractive  of  the  Antilles,  which  is  now  just  about  em- 
barking on  its  experiment  of  independence,  not  without  many 
misgivings,  even  among  the  Cubans  themselves. 

After  the  peace  of  1878,  which  was  no  peace,  but  an  inter- 
lude brought  about  bjr  false  promises  of  reform,  Cuba  for  a 
time  sank  out  of  public  view.  Taxes  were  imposed  in  wan- 
ton disregard  of  all  reasonable  or  indeed  rational  economic 
principles;  life  for  the  inhabitants  was  brought  to  such  a 
pitch  of  peril,  poverty  and  general  discomfort  that  anything 
was  preferable  to  its  continuance.  The  revolutionary  juntas 
had  accordingly  been  diligently  employed  in  preparing  for  a 
new  revolution,  which  should  be  final  and  decisive.  The 
struggle  was  never  to  be  given  up  until  either  Spain  aban- 
doned the  island,  or  all  its  inhabitants  were  dead.  The  head 
of  the  plotters  was  one  Jose  Marti,  born  in  Cuba  but  edu- 
cated in  Spain  and  further  educated  by  a  long  sojourn  in  this 
country.  He  was  a  man  of  intelligence  and  determination, 
and  he  had  the  organizing  and  leading  faculties  which  were 
needed  for  his  function. 

Confident  that  the  hostility  to  Spanish  rule  was  common 
to  all  parts  of  the  island,  he  arranged  for  a  general  and 
simultaneous  uprising  hi  every  province,  to  take  place  on  the 
24th  of  February,  1895 ;  and  it  was  his  purpose  to  leave  for 


PAST,    PRESENT    AND    FUTURE  479 

Cuba  with  three  vessels  and  as  large  a  force  of  armed  men 
as  could  be  obtained ;  the  point  of  embarkation  being  Fer- 
nandina,  Florida.  The  United  States,  however,  was  well 
sown  with  Spanish  spies,  and  news  of  this  intended  expedi- 
tion was  conveyed  not  only  to  Spain, 'but  to  our  own  govern- 
ment ;  which,  bound  by  international  law,  was  under  obliga- 
tions to  prevent  the  ships  from  sailing  from  any  United 
States  port.  They  were  prevented  accordingly;  and  Marti 
was  compelled  to  adopt  Santo  Domingo  as  the  base  for  his 
operations.  He  there  had  a  conference  with  General  Max- 
imo Gomez  and  other  patriots,  who  had  been  distinguished 
in  the  former  rebellion.  It  was  decided  to  keep  to  the  orig- 
inal date  for  the  uprising;  but  when  the  time  came,  the 
response  was  only  partial ;  Santiago  and  Matanzas  took  up 
arms ;  but  it  was  evident  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  other 
provinces  were  waiting  to  see  whether  the  movement  was 
likely  to  be  successful  before  taking  the  step  by  which  alone 
success  could  become  possible.  By  way  of  stimulating  the 
sluggish  and  timid,  Marti  and  Gomez  issued  a  proclamation 
late  in  March,  and  the  two  Maceos,  Antonio  and  Jose,  to- 
gether with  Dr.  Agramonte  and  a  few  more,  succeeded 
in  landing  in  the  neighborhood  of  Baracoa  on  March  31st. 
Marti  and  Gomez  followed  two  weeks  later  with  eighty  men, 
getting  ashore  at  Cape  Maisi.  The  time  was  not  unfavor- 
able ;  for  the  Spaniards  had  less  than  twenty  thousand  sol- 
diers in  the  island;  and  the  martial  law  which  had  been 
declared  in  the  revolting  provinces  had  not  had  the  effect 
of  quelling  the  trouble.  Reinforcements  to  the  number  of 
seven  thousand  men  were  brought  over  from  Porto  Rico,  and 
Martinez  Campos  returned  from  Spain  with  further  regi- 
ments, arriving  a  few  days  after  the  landing  of  Gomez  and 
Marti.  Nevertheless,  a  quick  and  general  response  to  the 
summons  of  the  revolutionary  leaders  might  have  resulted 
in  wiping  the  Spaniards  off  the  island,  and  thus  gaining 
at  least  a  great  initial  advantage.  But  the  Cubans,  though 
tenacious  and  troublesome  fighters  in  their  own  way,  had  it 
not  in  them  to  make  any  decisive  and  unanimous  movement; 


480  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

there  were  plenty  of  people,  mostly  negroes,  who  were  ready 
to  take  up  arms ;  but  the  raising  of  a  regularly  drilled  and 
appointed  army  or  system  of  armies,  who  should  conduct 
operations  in  the  field  according  to  rules  of  scientific  warfare 
— this  was  not  to  be '  accomplished.  On  the  other  hand, 
Marti  was  fully  alive  to  the  advantage  which  would  accrue 
from  recognition  of  the  Cuban  Republic  by  the  United  States ; 
and  he  accordingly  made  it  his  first  care  to  call  a  meeting  of 
the  leaders  and  draw  up  a  form  of  government,  and  select 
representatives  to  form  a  constituent  assembly.  He  also 
designed  to  visit  Washington  in  the  hope  of  persuading  the 
United  States  government  to  take  the  step  of  recognition; 
but  he  was  killed  on  the  way  to  the  coast  by  a  Spanish  party. 
Nevertheless,  on  the  15th  of  September  Cuban  independence 
was  declared  at  Jimaguayu,  and  a  provisional  constitution 
was  adopted.  Betancourt  and  Masso  were  chosen  president 
and  vice-president.  Gomez  was  appointed  commander-in- 
chief,  Maceo  lieutenant-general.  Estrada  Palma  was  to  be 
foreign  agent.  A  capital  was  established  in  the  Cubitas 
mountains,  and  a  form  of  administration  was  put  in  practice. 
The  first  encounters  between  the  Spaniards  and  the  pa- 
triots took  place  in  the  east,  where  the  Spanish  general  Santo- 
cildes  was  slain  in  a  skirmish  near  Bayamo ;  and  the  Cuban 
general  Lacret  landed  a  force  from  Jamaica,  and  another 
arrived  from  Key  "West.  In  order  to  secure  the  capital, 
Campos  rebuilt  the  old  trocha  across  the  island,  and  erected 
forts  and  block-houses;  his  impression  being  that  the  insur- 
rection was  confined  to  the  east,  and  that,  by  maintaining 
a  strong  force  along  this  fortified  line,  the  movement  could 
be  easily  checked  and  put  down.  But  the  tactics  of  the 
Cubans  rendered  these  measures  of  little  value.  They  did 
not  mass  themselves  together,  but  spread  themselves  among 
the  hills  and  forests  in  small  bodies,  moving  rapidly,  always 
appearing  where  they  were  least  looked  for,  cutting  off  small 
Spanish  detachments,  slipping  unobserved  at  night  past  the 
fortified  lines,  destroying  the  plantations  which  were  furnish- 
ing supplies  to  Havana,  and  constantly  increasing  their 


PAST,    PRESENT    AND    FUTURE  .     481 

numbers,  either  by  accepting  those  who  came  voluntarily, 
or  forcing  the  reluctant  to  join.  The  Spanish,  by  Novem- 
ber, had  been  reinforced  with  forty  thousand  more  troops 
from  Spain;  but  these  did  not  much  improve  the  situation, 
though  they  added  greatly  to  the  cost  of  the  war,  and  the 
difficulty  of  the  commissariat.  Large  armies  cannot  be  made 
effective  in  a  bushwhacking  contest.  The  Cubans  gained 
the  west  end  of  the  island,  and  even  advanced  within  twelve 
miles  of  Havana:  their  numbers  could  not  be  determined, 
but  it  is  said  that  they  had  as  many  as  sixteen  thousand  men 
in  the  field.  They  would  not  stop  long  enough  to  be  counted, 
or  even  to  be  killed.  Campos  had  hoped  to  make  progress 
by  adopting  measures  of  conciliation;  but  he  found  it  impos- 
sible to  effect  any  conferences,  or  to  spread  abroad  his  good 
intentions.  The  Cubans  had  not  been  through  their  former 
revolution  for  nothing;  and  would  not  readily  place  faith  in 
any  promises  that  Spain  could  make. 

This  was  annoying  to  Spanish  pride,  and  the  discontent 
concentrated  itself  against  Campos;  for  Spain  always  holds 
its  officers  guilty  for  failures,  never  its  policy  or  the  condi- 
tion under  which  the  officers  were  compelled  to  act.  Campos 
resigned  in  January,  1896,  and  in  February  arrived  General 
Weyler,  who  was  also  a  veteran  of  the  former  war,  and  was 
quite  confident  that  he  had  a  sure  recipe  for  the  putting  down 
of  any  rebellion. 

Meanwhile  a  new  trocha  had  been  placed  across  the  island 
west  of  Havana;  but  Maceo  had  succeeded  in  evading  it,  and 
the  provinces  of  Matanzas  and  Havana  still  continued  to  suf- 
fer. The  Spaniards  held  most  of  the  large  towns  in  Cuba, 
and  these  tactics  of  the  rebels  were  calculated  to  deprive  the 
garrisons  of  the  means  of  subsistence,  except  such  as  might 
be  brought  in  from  other  sources  outside  of  Cuba.  But  Wey- 
ler reflected  that  the  Cuban  army,  after  all,  contained  but 
a  small  fraction  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  country ;  there  were 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  non-combatants,  or  pacificos  as  they 
were  called,  who  were  just  as  much  Cubans  as  the  fighting 
men  were ;  consequently,  so  long  as  the  rebellion  lasted,  they 


482  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

were  just  as  much  enemies  of  Spain.  Were  they  all  de- 
stroyed, the  fighting  men  could  not  long  maintain  the  con- 
flict ;  since  the  pacificos  were  the  cultivators  of  the  ground, 
and  upon  their  labors  the  Cuban  army  must  be  absolutely 
dependent.  Therefore  he  determined  that  all  pacificos  must 
die.  He  did  not  design  to  slaughter  them  all,  for  that  might 
arouse  the  protest  of  civilized  nations,  without  considering 
the  waste  of  ammunition.  The  more  prudent  and  economical 
plan  was  to.let  them  perish  by  the  operation  of  natural  causes, 
which  in  this  case  meant  to  let  them  starve  to  death.  Two- 
thirds  of  the  pacificos  being  women  and  children,  it  was  evi- 
dent that  by  destroying  them  he  would  not  only  add  that 
number  of  victims  to  the  present  war,  but  he  would  also 
obviate  the  possibility  of  the  existence  of  Cubans  for  all  time 
to  come.  A  race  cannot  propagate  itself  without  women; 
let  all  the  women  be  killed,  and  the  men  would  in  course  of 
time  die  out,  even  without  the  aid  of  Spanish  bullets.  The 
island,  by  dint  of  this  policy,  would  become  ere  long  a  tabula 
rasa,  to  be  hereafter  colonized  by  a  new  supply  of  settlers, 
who  would  be  free  from  rebellious  notions.  The  theory  was 
irreproachable;  only,  how  was  the  starvation  process  to  be 
carried  out? 

For  this,  also,  Weyler  was  prepared.  He  ordered  the 
military  authorities  of  the  various  towns  to  command  all 
the  country  inhabitants  of  their  neighborhood  to  leave  their 
plantations  and  collect  in  the  town  environs,  where  a  zone 
of  cultivation  was  to  be  marked  out,  and  picketed,  within 
which  they  were  to  remain  and  support  themselves;  any  one 
attempting  to  go  outside  the  picket-line  was  to  be  shot,  and 
none  of  the  supplies  issued  to  the  troops  was  to  be  given 
these  reconcentrados,  as  they  were  termed.  Moreover,  they 
were  to  be*  deprived  of  farming  tools,  and  of  grain  to  sow. 
Under  this  system,  the  zones  of  cultivation  soon  became 
areas  of  starvation,  filled  with  skeleton  mothers  holding 
skeleton  babies  to  their  lifeless  breasts.  From  time  to  time, 
the  bones  of  the  dead  (or  of  the  dying  very  often)  were  swept 
into  trenches  and  covered  with  soil;  and  no  objection  was 


PAST,    PRESENT    AND    FUTURE  483 

offered  if  the  pickets  or  other  soldiers  should  amuse  them- 
selves with  trying  the  accuracy  of  their  aim  upon  the  help- 
less victims,  or  should  slice  them  in  pieces  to  prove  the  keen- 
ness of  their  machetes.  In  one  way  or  another,  therefore, 
Weyler's  policy  speedily  proved  its  effectiveness;  and  the 
murders  which  lie  at  his  door  may  be  reckoned  by  the  hun- 
dred thousand.  The  exact  number  can  never  be  known, 
inasmuch  as  there  was  no  trustworthy  census  by  which 
to  estimate  it;  but  it  is  thought  that  it  cannot  be  less  than 
half  a  million,  most  of  whom  were  children  and  women. 
The  cost  to  the  government  was  of  course  absolutely  noth- 
ing. Weyler  was  naturally  proud  of  the  success  of  his  de- 
vice, and  the  authorities  at  Madrid  were  deeply  gratified. 
This  was  the  true  way  to  put  down  a  rebellion,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  make  sure  provision  against  any  rebellions  in 
the  future.  It  was  thoroughly  characteristic  of  the  Spanish 
genius,  and  proved  that  in  the  four  centuries  of  their  Amer- 
ican dominion  their  hand  had  lost  none  of  its  cunning. 

Fighting  in  the  field  was  not  vigorously  prosecuted  during 
Weyler's  regime,  for  reasons  satisfactory  to  him.  The  war 
was  to  him  a  source  of  income;  every  year  of  its  contin- 
uance meant  to  him  a  new  fortune.  All  Spanish  colonial 
administrators  have  been  thieves;  but  none  of  them  had 
ever  amassed  money  at  Weyler's  rate.  He  made  no 
scruple  of  starving  his  own  soldiers  by  pocketing  the 
sums  sent  him  to  provide  for  them;  for  since  he  did  not 
care  to  fight,  what  was  the  use  of  soldiers?  If  they  were 
fed  and  taken  out  to  battle,  they  would  be  killed,  and  the 
value  of  the  food  lost.  Better  let  them  forage  for  them- 
selves; and  only  when  both  the  Spanish  army  and  the 
Cuban  population  were  extinct  would  Weyler  return,  to 
receive  the  well-earned  thanks  of  his  country. 

This  project  may  seem  to  the  reader  imaginative  and 
fantastic;  but  it  is  sober  historical  fact;  and  the  Spanish 
captain-general  might  still  be  collecting  revenues  in  the 
E^er-Faithful  Isle,  had  it  not  been  for  the  fastidiousness  of 
this  country.  Indeed,  our  people  had  long  been  restive  un- 


484  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH    AMERICA 

der  the  spectacle,  although  few  of  them  really  believed  that 
things  could  be  as  bad  as  they  were  said  to  be.  But  it  was 
at  least  evident  that  the  war  was  not  being  pushed  properly ; 
the  island  was  given  up  to  desolation,  and  commercial  inter- 
ests were  suffering.  The  rebels  were  unable  to  drive  the 
Spanish  from  their  country,  and  the  Spanish  were  either 
unable  or  unwilling  to  bring  the  rebellion  to  a  close.  Cuba 
was  close  to  our  doors,  and  the  stench  of  the  corpses  scat- 
tered under  the  tropic  sun  was  offensive  to  our  civilized  nos- 
trils. Our  government,  like  all  governments,  was  reluctant 
to  interfere ;  it  hoped  for  the  best,  and  waited  over-long  for 
it;  it  discredited  the  worst  rumors  of  cruelty  and  barbarism, 
and  feared  to  yield  too  readily  to  popular  passion.  But  the 
consuls  of  the  United  States  in  the  island,  from  General  Lee 
at  Havana  down,  persisted  in  sending  in  reports  of  what 
horrors  came  under  their  personal  observation;  and  occasion- 
ally some  parts  of  these  reports  would  find  their  way  into 
the  newspapers.  Newspaper  reporters  were  sent  over,  and 
sent  back  concise  and  emphatic  reports,  telling  the  exact 
truth — though,  precisely  because  they  were  so  true,  they 
were  largely  disbelieved.  And  yet,  no  effective  or  convinc- 
ing denials  were  promulgated.  Weyler,  indeed,  as  each 
fresh  ten  thousand  skeletons  of  reconcentrados  were  shov- 
elled into  their  trench,  announced  that  this  or  that  district 
had  been  pacified,  and  that  the  war  was  practically  over. 
But  uniformly,  after  one  of  these  proclamations  from  head- 
quarters, would  follow  news  of  the  destruction  of  a  town  by 
the  rebels,  or  the  defeating  of  a  Spanish  force ;  if  the  rebel- 
lion were  at  an  end,  at  all  events  men  were  still  getting  shot 
throughout  the  country.  The  pressure  of  public  opinion  upon 
the  authorities  at  Washington  at  last  became  so  strong  that 
action  was  indispensable.  It  was  intimated  to  Spain  that 
it  might  be  well  if  the  war  were  brought  to  a  close  within 
some  reasonable  time.  It  had  become  inconvenient  to  the 
United  States,  and  were  it  to  continue  indefinitely,  might 
become  insufferable.  At  this  juncture  an  event  occurred 
in  Madrid  which  had  the  effect  of  introducing  a  change. 


PAST,    PRESENT   AND   FUTURE  485 

This  was  the  assassination  of  Canovas,  the  Spanish  prime 
minister,  who  had  all  along  supported  and  justified  Weyler 
in  his  policy.  The  successor  chosen  was  Sagasta,  who,  if 
for  no  better  reason  than  to  justify  his  selection,  proceeded 
to  put  another  policy  into  execution.  He  recalled  Weyler, 
and  sent  out  General  Ramon  Blanco  in  his  place,  with  in- 
structions to  adopt  mild  and  pacificatory  measures.  Let  the 
erring  colonists  be  won  by  love,  and  let  all  needed  reforms 
in  the  administration  of  the  island  be  promoted.  Of  course 
these  instructions  were  never  intended  to  be  obeyed;  they 
were  issued  simply  in  order  to  quiet  American  prejudices; 
the  secret  understanding  was,  that,  under  cover  of  gentle- 
ness, the  same  methods  were  to  be  continued.  The  recon- 
centrados  still  went  on  starving,  and  the  murder  of  inoffen- 
sive pacificos  who  inadvertently  failed  to  observe  impossible 
rules  was  kept  up  as  briskly  as  before.  But  a  scheme  of 
autonomy  was  put  forward,  though  it  had  not  yet  received 
the  approval  of  the  Spanish  Cortes;  providing  for  a  Cuban 
parliament  with  powers  so  restricted  as  to  be  useless.  The 
revolutionists  utterly  repudiated  this  scheme,  and  those  in- 
habitants of  the  island  who  did  not  perceive  its  delusive 
quality  denounced  it  as  impracticable.  Americans  also  were 
quick  to  see  through  its  insincerity.  Meantime  the  consti- 
tution originally  adopted  by  the  Cuban  Republic  having 
reached  the  end  of  its  appointed  two-years'  term,  another 
was  adopted,  and  Masso  and  Capote  were  chosen  president 
and  vice-president.  Gomez  and  Garcia  continued  to  com- 
mand the  army.  In  December,  1897,  McKinley  spoke  of 
Cuba  in  his  message  to  Congress,  remarking  that  it  was  still 
inexpedient  to  "recognize"  the  Republic;  but  stating  that 
we  might  be  forced  to  put  an  end  to  the  war  in  the  interests 
of  humanity  and  civilization.  This  message  caused  anger  in 
Havana,  and  hostility  was  evinced  toward  Americans.  Act- 
ual danger  being  apprehended,  the  battleship  "Maine"  was 
sent  to  Havana  harbor,  ostensibly  on  a  mere  visit  of  friend- 
ship, but  in  effect  to  protect  American  lives  and  interests. 
She  arrived  on  the  25th  of  January,  and  was  assigned  by 


486  HISTORY    OF   SPANISH   AMERICA 

the  harbor-master,  acting  under  Blanoo's  instructions,  to 
an  anchorage  which  was  afterward  discovered  to  be  over 
a  sunken  mine,  which  was  connected  with  the  shore  by  a 
wire,  and  could  be  exploded  at  any  moment  by  an  electric 
discharge.  The  "Maine's"  presence  caused  an  immediate 
improvement  in  the  manners  of  the  Spaniards  in  Havana 
toward  the  resident  Americans;  but  underneath  the  show 
of  courtesy  there  was  a  feeling  of  murderous  enmity.  Sub- 
sequent evidence  goes  to  show  that  it  was  by  Weyler's  order 
that  the  mines  in  the  harbor  had  been  placed ;  and  since  the 
Cubans  had  no  navy,  it  could  only  have  been  with  the  view 
of  possible  complications  with  the  United  States  that  this 
step  had  been  taken.  On  the  15th  of  February,  1898,  about 
nine  o'clock  in  the  evening,  at  the  moment  when  the  tide 
caused  the  battleship  to  swing  at  her  moorings  so  that  her 
bow  was  brought  just  above  the  mine,  it  was  exploded  from 
the  concealed  switch-board  on  shore;  and  the  ship,  with  over 
two  hundred  and  sixty  of  her  crew,  was  blown  up  and  totally 
destroyed.  Captain  Sigsbee  and  most  of  his  officers  were  on 
board  at  the  time,  but  being  in  their  quarters  at  the  stern  of 
the  ship,  they  were  not  destroyed ;  discipline  was  maintained, 
and  the  survivors  were  safely  taken  off.  An  inquiry  into  the 
cause  of  the  explosion  was  then  instituted,  and  sat  for  a  long 
time  at  Key  West,  making  visits  also  to  the  scene  of  the 
wreck  in  Havana  harbor;  their  conclusion  was,  as  had  from 
the  first  been  anticipated,  that  the  ship  was  blown  up  from 
below,  with  signs  that  the  occasion  of  the  disaster  had  been 
a  mine.  The  Spaniards  then  made  a  perfunctory  examina- 
tion, and  immediately  issued  the  report  that  the  "Maine" 
had  been  destroyed  by  careless  management  on  board  on  the 
part  of  the  officers  or  crew,  which  had  resulted  in  setting 
fire  to  the  magazine.  This  explanation  was  not  accepted  by 
our  government ;  and  as  no  improvement  had  taken  place  in 
the  war  situation,  it  was  finally  decided  to  intervene  by 
furce.  On  April  5th  Consul-General  Lee  retired  from  his 
post  in  Havana,  warning  all  Americans  to  do  the  same;  on 
the  llth  of  the  same  month  McKinley  sent  to  Congress  a 


PAST,    PRESENT    AND    FUTURE  487 

special  message,  asking  for  authority  to  intervene;  and  on 
the  19th  a  joint  resolution  was  adopted  declaring  the  inde- 
pendence of  Cuba,  directing  Spain  to  withdraw  forthwith 
from  the  island,  and  bidding  the  president  to  employ  the 
land  and  naval  forces  of  the  United  States  to  carry  these 
resolutions  into  effect.  At  the  same  time  the  Spanish  min- 
ister left  Washington,  and  General  Woodford,  who  up  to  this 
moment  had  been  a  determined  advocate  of  peace,  received 
his  conge  at  Madrid.  The  war  was  on. 

We  had  taken  advantage  of  what  small  opportunity  we 
had  to  add  some  vessels  to  our  navy  by  purchase  from  other 
countries  before  war  was  declared;  and  our  position  at  sea 
was  more  favorable  at  the  moment  than  on  land.  It  was 
evident  however  that  the  war  would  be  largely  a  naval  con- 
test. The  two  nations  were  thought  to  be  nearly  on  an 
equality  in  this  respect,  though  the  "man  behind  the  gun'* 
was  believed  to  be  superior  on  the  American  ships — as  the 
sequel  abundantly  proved  to  be  the  case.  Spain  had  many 
more  soldiers  than  we;  our  regular  army  was  but  about 
twenty-six  thousand  men ;  but  there  were  the  various  State 
G  uards,  and  any  required  number  of  citizens  were  ready  and 
anxious  to  volunteer,  the  war  being  an  exceedingly  popular 
one  in  this  country.  One  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand 
troops  were  called  for  by  the  president — a  number  far  in  ex- 
cess of  what  was  required;  indeed,  the  regular  army  alone 
would,  as  it  turned  out,  have  been  amply  sufficient  to  defeat 
the  Spaniards  in  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico.  Wo  greatly  over- 
estimated our  enemy's  strength  and  fighting  qualities.  Our 
first  step  was  to  blockade  the  Cuban  ports,  and  minor  actions 
took  place  in  the  harbors  of  some  of  the  coast  towns,  in  which 
the  casualties  on  either  side  were  small.  It  was  afterward 
said  that  had  Havana  been  immediately  bombarded,  it  would 
have  fallen,  the  defences  being  then  inadequate;  but  Blanco 
diligently  applied  himself  to  erecting  defences  both  on  the 
sea  and  the  land  sides  of  the  city,  and  presently  had  made 
it  as  nearly  impregnable  as  possible.  A  Spanish  squadron, 
commanded  by  Admiral  Cervera,  had  meanwhile  sailed  from 


488  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

Spain,  and  some  anxiety  was  aroused  along  our  coast  by  the 
uncertainty  as  to  what  might  be  the  destination  of  these 
ships ;  our  coast  defences  were  practically  non-existent,  and 
any  one  of  our  great  cities  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard  might 
have  been  successfully  attacked.  Cervera,  however,  was 
bound  for  Cuba,  his  intention  being  to  enter  the  harbor 
either  of  Cienf  uegos  or  of  Santiago ;  he  considered  his  fleet 
incompetent  to  cope  on  equal  terms  with  ours,  and  had  no 
wish  to  risk  an  engagement.  The  aim  of  our  fleet,  which 
was  divided  into  two  squadrons,  under  the  command  of 
Schley  and  of  Sampson  respectively,  was  to  intercept  Cer- 
vera and  fight  him ;  but  though  a  watch  was  kept  up,  the 
Spaniard  contrived  to  elude  us,  and  slipped  safely  into  the 
long  and  narrow  harbor  of  Santiago,  which  was  eminently 
defensible,  the  entrance  to  the  channel  being  but  a  few 
hundred  yards  wide,  with  forts  and  batteries  at  points  of 
vantage.  It  was  some  time  before  it  was  certain  that  the 
Spanish  fleet  was  in  this  cul-de-sac ;  as  soon  as  the  fact  was 
ascertained,  most  of  the  American  fleet  blockaded  the  en- 
trance, resolved  that  it  should  not  get  out  without  a  battle. 
The  Morro  castle  at  the  mouth  of  the  harbor  was  sub- 
jected to  several  bombardments,  but  it  proved  impossible 
entirely  to  silence  the  batteries;  and  as  the  channel  was 
known  to  be  mined,  it  was  deemed  inexpedient  to  attempt 
sailing  in  to  attack  the  Spanish  fleet  at  its  anchorage.  The 
first  ship  to  enter  would  be  blown  up,  and  its  hulk  would 
prevent  any  of  the  others  from  going  in.  Need  was  of  a 
land  force  to  attack  the  town  from  within. 

"While  this  land  force  was  getting  ready — a  process  which 
proved  tediously  long,  owing  to  incompetence  of  various  offi- 
cers and  officials  concerned — a  heroic  exploit  was  performed 
by  Lieutenant  Hobson,  who  with  a  few  volunteers  as  brave 
as  himself  took  a  steamer,  the  "Merrimac, "  directly  into  the 
mouth  of  the  Santiago  channel,  where  it  was  narrowest,  in 
the  teeth  of  the  fire  of  all  the  Spanish  batteries,  and  there 
blew  her  up  and  sank  her;  the  object  being,  of  course,  since 
we  could  not  enter  the  harbor,  to  prevent  Cervera  from  get- 


PAST,    PRESENT   AND    FUTURE  489 

ting  out,  and  thus  set  free  our  fleet  to  perform  other  func- 
tions than  the  wearisome  one  of  blockade  duty.  The  feat 
was  done,  and  the  heroic  men  who  did  it  were  not  killed  by 
the  explosion,  or  by  the  Spanish  fire;  but  the  ship  did  not 
occupy  a  position  exactly  across  the  channel,  so  that  it  might 
be  possible  for  the  Spanish  fleet  to  pass  her  in  daylight. 
Hobson  and  his  men  clung  to  the  wreck  of  the  steamer  dur- 
ing the  night,  and  were  captured  next  morning  by  Cervera 
himself,  who  came  out  in  a  steam  launch  to  view  the  scene. 
They  were  imprisoned  in  Morro,  in  such  a  position  that  the 
fire  of  the  American  fleet  directed  against  that  fortification 
might  make  them  its  first  victims ;  but  after  a  few  days  Cer- 
vera had  them  removed  to  the  town  of  Santiago,  where  they 
remained  until  exchanged  for  Spanish  prisoners,  after  the 
investment  of  the  town  by  the  American  army. 

The  sinking  of  the  "Merrimac"  had  taken  place  on  June 
3d.  On  the  10th  of  that  month  six  hundred  marines  were 
landed  at  Caimanera,  in  the  Bay  of  Guantanamo,  where 
they  had  a  sharp  engagement  with  the  enemy ;  several  were 
killed  by  sharpshooters,  and  their  bodies  were  foully  muti- 
lated, in  the  same  manner  that  the  Chinese  had  mutilated 
the  bodies  of  Japanese  soldiers  in  the  war  between  those 
powers.  But  the  Spanish  were  finally  driven  off,  and  for 
twelve  days  the  marines  held  their  position,  waiting  for  the 
arrival  of  the  main  body  of  our  troops  from  Tampa.  They 
came  on  the  22d,  twelve  thousand  men,  forming  the  Fifth 
Army  Corps;  a  landing  was  effected  east  of  Santiago  on 
June  24th,  and  in  an  action  at  Las  Guasimas  we  lost  sev- 
eral men,  one  or  two  of  whom  were  well  known  in  New 
York.  The  army  moved  into  position  facing  the  fortifica- 
tions of  Santiago,  the  line  extending  several  miles.  On  the 
1st  of  July  orders  were  issued  to  capture  the  outlying  de- 
fences; but  General  W.  R.  Shafter,  whose  duty  it  was  to 
direct  the  attack,  he  being  the  commander  of  the  expedition, 
remained  several  miles  to  the  rear  during  the  days  of  the 
fighting,  pleading  illness.  The  battle  was  fought  and  won 
by  the  rank  and  file  of  the  regular  army  and  volunteers,  and 


490  HISTORY    OF    SPANISH    AMERICA 

by  their  regimental  officers.  The  hills  of  San  Juan  and  of 
El  Caney  were  captured  by  heroic  charges  in  the  face  of  a 
severe  fire,  with  a  loss  of  nearly  two  thousand  men.  The 
ships  of  Cervera,  in  the  harbor,  had  assisted  the  defending 
army  by  their  great  guns.  But  after  the  heights  were  taken, 
and  it  was  evident  that  the  next  attack  would  result  in  the 
fall  of  Santiago  itself,  Cervera  resolved  to  depart ;  or  possi- 
bly he  received  orders  from  Madrid  ordering  him  to  make 
the  attempt.  The  time  he  selected  was  the  morning  of  Sun- 
day, the  3d  of  July.  The  world  is  familiar  with  what  fol- 
lowed. With  the  exception  of  the  flagship  "New  York," 
with  Admiral  Sampson  on  board,  which  had  gone  down  the 
coast  to  the  east  to  enable  Sampson  to  confer  with  General 
Shaf  ter,  the  American  fleet  was  in  position ;  and  the  action 
was  begun  by  Commodore  Schley  the  moment  the  first  Span- 
ish ship  appeared  through  the  mouth  of  the  channel.  The 
Spaniards  headed  toward  the  west  along  the  coast,  the 
Americans  running  beside  them  on  a  gradually  converg- 
ing line;  the  firing  on  both  sides  being  all  the  while  very 
heavy.  Within  a  few  minutes  all  but  one  of  the  Spanish 
ships  were  sunk  or  disabled  and  set  on  fire ;  the  remaining 
one  was  destroyed  after  a  chase  of  forty  miles.  All  the 
crews,  and  Cervera  and  his  subordinate  officers,  were  either 
killed  or  captured.  Cervera  and  the  other  survivors  were 
afterward  taken  to  the  United  States,  and  finally  sent  to 
Spain.  With  the  exception  of  Dewey's  victory  in  Manila 
Bay,  there  never  was  a  naval  battle  in  which  the  enemy  has 
been  so  swiftly  and  totally  defeated.  Only  one  American 
sailor  was  killed.  The  war  was  now  at  an  end,  so  far  as 
the  fighting  went;  on  the  17th  of  July  Santiago  was  sur- 
rendered, a  peace  protocol  having  already  been  agreed  upon. 
The  final  treaty  of  peace,  however,  stipulating  for  Spain's 
evacuation  of  the  West  Indies  and  the  Philippines,  was  not 
signed  till  nearly  a  year  later. 

It  only  remained  to  create  a  permanent  native  govern- 
ment in  Cuba.  Meanwhile  the  island  was  governed  by  Gen- 
eral Brooke  at  Havana.  Order  could  not  be  immediately 


PAST,    PRESENT    AND    FUTURE  491 

restored;  some  remains  of  Spanish  influence  still  survived; 
and  the  country  outside  the  towns  was  infested  with  bands 
of  brigands,  which  made  life  and  travel  unsafe.  There  was, 
moreover,  a  large  part  of  the  population  which  inclined  to 
prefer  annexation  to  the  United  States  to  the  perils  and 
difficulties  of  an  independent  government;  but  the  United 
States,  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  had  pledged  herself  to 
give  Cuba  to  the  Cubans,  and  was  resolved  to  carry  out  her 
promise  at  the  earliest  possible  moment.  Whether  or  not 
the  experiment  will  succeed  is  still  to  be  proved.  But  there 
is  good  ground  for  believing  that,  from  one  cause  or  another, 
the  Cubans  will  ultimately  find  it  to  their  advantage  to  be- 
come united  to  this  country;  and  although  the  benefit  of 
Cuban  trade  and  the  wealth  to  be  derived  from  the  devel- 
opment of  the  resources  of  the  island  would  be  little  aug- 
mented by  annexation,  it  may  nevertheless  prove  necessary 
to  let  Cuba  follow  the  example  of  her  sister  island  of  Porto 
Rico,  and  become  an  American  territory.  In  any  event  it 
is  probable  that  within  a  decade  there  will  be  more  Ameri- 
can inhabitants  of  Cuba  than  native.  The  United  States 
seeks  no  empire  over  foreign  lands;  but  she  is  mindful  of 
the  obligations  which  civilization  and  the  maintenance  of 
peace  impose;  and  if  the  day's  work  demands  it,  she  will 
not  shrink  from  them. 


THE   END. 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  UBRARYFACIUTY 


A    000  676  336     1 


